Do These 4 Things When Raising Goats Indoors in Summer: The Goats Stay Healthy and Gain Weight

The high temperatures of summer are a difficult challenge for goat farmers to overcome, because this factor not only reduces the flock's appetite but also easily triggers various diseases, causing farmers to suffer reduced output and lower profits. So what are the precautions for raising goats indoors in summer? Do these 4 things, and the goats stay healthy and gain weight!

Precautions for Raising Goats Indoors in Summer

1. Heat prevention and cooling

Shade with a shelter: you can build a shade shelter with shade netting, colored steel tiles or other materials, so that the flock has a place to rest during the midday high-temperature period.

Physical cooling: farmers who are able to can install cooling equipment in the goat pen for physical cooling, such as electric fans, exhaust fans, or better equipment such as cooling pads and air coolers.

2. Pay attention to goat shed hygiene

The high temperatures of summer make it easy for bacteria to breed in the goat pen, so farmers should clean the manure from the pen every day or on a regular schedule, and do regular disinfection work, ensuring smooth ventilation, which can reduce irritating odors and the humidity of the shed.

Besides paying attention to goat pen hygiene, mosquito prevention and elimination work must also be done well, because mosquitoes and insects not only spread some diseases but also seriously affect the goats' normal rest, having a relatively large impact on the health and growth of the flock. So farmers should regularly use drugs to spray inside and outside the goat shed to eliminate mosquitoes and flies, and can use mosquito coils or smoke to kill mosquitoes and flies.

3. Pay attention to feeding methods

First, in summer you must reduce the flock's stocking density, because goats' bodies dissipate heat, and when the stocking density is too high and crowded, the flock is more easily threatened by heat stress. Normally, one goat occupying 2 sq m of goat shed is enough, but in summer one goat should occupy 3~4 sq m of goat shed, and it is best to raise goats of different sizes and uses separately.

In addition, in summer when temperatures are higher, goats' water requirements are also relatively greater, so sufficient clean drinking water must be supplied, preferably with a 24-hour water supply. Also, adding vitamin C or electrolytes to the drinking water can, to a certain extent, alleviate the flock's heat stress response.

Finally, in summer avoid feeding goats during the high-temperature period. In the morning you can feed at five or six o'clock, in the evening you can feed after the sun goes down, and during the day you can supplement with some green, juicy feed. This can increase the goats' feed intake, and after eating, the cooler weather is good for the goats' rumination, digestion and growth.

4. Do a good job of disease prevention and treatment

Most vaccines for goat diseases are injected in spring and autumn. If they were not injected during either of these two periods, then they should be arranged in summer. The common goat diseases in summer are mainly foot rot and diarrhea. Foot rot is mostly caused by a damp shed; after onset, you should find a way to reduce the shed's humidity, trim the hooves or apply disinfectant, and inject antibiotics for treatment.

Summer is the hardest season for the flock. Only by managing the goat pen well during this period can you lay a good foundation for the quality and yield of commercial goats.