How to Save a Goat Kid with Hypothermia

Hypothermia can come on quickly. If your goat kids are experiencing hypothermia, it is an emergency and all efforts must be made to raise the body temperature immediately. Below I go step-by-step on how to save a goat kid with hypothermia.

I am not a vet. If you have any concerns about the health or safety of your animals please consult a professional veterinarian. This post is an example of what we do with our animals.

This post may contain affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you purchase through my link, which is of no cost to you.

About 4 years ago one of our goats gave birth in the middle of February. Our buck busted through one of our fences and got to the girls earlier than we would have liked. This early mating made for early babies and because we live in Michigan, it was really cold. We check on our pregnant does every 2 hours when it gets close for them to give birth, but she was early. She ended up with triplets which isn't unusual for goats but could have added to the early delivery. My husband fed the animals for the night everyone was acting normal so he came in for the evening.

Luckily I had forgotten my purse in our car and when I went out to grab it I heard a faint crying coming from the barn. I knew that sound and ran to the barn to find our doe had given birth to 3 kids. One was curled up against her and she was licking it clean, the other two were still soaked and lying limp at either end of the stall. I scooped the babies up, put them under my winter coat, and carried them to the house.

Their entire bodies were like pudding. Their heads just hung, their legs hung and they were freezing to the touch. I ran outside and got our goat first aid kit and took their temperature. it was 97 degrees. Normal goat temperatures are about 103 degrees. It was obvious they were suffering from hypothermia.

FAQ for Hypothermia in Goat Kids

Q. What is the normal body temperature for a goat?

A. 101.5 to 103.5 degrees

Q. What is Hypothermia in goats?

A. A core body temperature of 100 degrees or less

Q. How do you take a goat's temperature?

A. You can find a digital instant-read thermometer at any drug store or on Amazon. Insert the metal tip of the thermometer into the goat's rectum (just the metal tip) and wait for the reading.

Q. How long does it take for goat kids to self-regulate their own body temperature?

A. About 2 weeks

Hypothermia in Goat Kids

In the case of hypothermia, you will not have time to call the vet. The kid may only have minutes to live so action must be taken immediately.

1. Fill the bathtub with warm water

You'll want the water around 103 degrees. Not too hot but nice and warm.

2. Get a garbage bag

While the tub is filling, place the kid in a garbage bag with its head sticking out. Loosely cinch the bag around the neck. This will prevent the kid from getting wet.

3. Place the goat in the water

Hold the kid's head up so it doesn't go under the water and submerge the rest of the goat's body in the water. You will have to continue to add hot water slowly as the water cools. Rub and massage the goat to encourage good circulation.

4. Take the temperature

After around 20 minutes remove the goat and take its temperature. We do it rectally with a digital instant-read thermometer that we keep specifically for our animals. Insert the metal tip into the rectum and hold until you get a reading. You want the kid's temperature around 100 degrees.

Continue soaking the goat until they start to come around. They might shake their heads, move their legs as if they're swimming, or even make sucking motions with their mouths.

5. Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia often goes hand in hand with hypothermia especially because the kid has not received their first drink of colostrum. It's important to not try to bottle feed while a goat is hypothermic. Because the body temperature is so low, their body is not functioning properly. The goat will not be able to digest the milk at this point. You also run the risk of the milk going into the lungs and causing pneumonia.

Instead, place some maple syrup, or corn syrup under the tongue of the goat kid. This will dissolve quickly and get much-needed sugar into the bloodstream.

4. Removing from the water

It can take 45 minutes to an hour for the goat to be thoroughly warmed. Even though the goat is warmed through it may still be weak.

Remove the garbage bag and dry the goat with a towel, rubbing briskly. Finish drying completely with the hair dryer.

5. Prepare a bottle

While you're drying the goats, get a bottle warming with a Goat Kid Colostrum Replacer. (See my post Goat Kidding Kit- 20 Things You Might Need)Or if you have a helper who can milk the mother goat while you finish warming. It's often easier to just feed milk replacer in this situation. Weak babies can sometimes be difficult to bottle feed. (see my Guide to Bottle Feeding Goat Kids.)

6. Keep them warm

Once our goat kids' insides were warm with milk and their outsides were warm and dry, we put them in a large Rubbermaid container in front of our electric fireplace to keep warm overnight. During the next few feedings, (every 3-4 hours, see my post Guide to Feeding Baby Goats.) they were still weak and unable to stand for long periods, but by morning they were standing on their own and bleating for more bottles.

When to return them outside

Baby goats can't fully regulate their body temperatures until they are around 2 weeks old. If the weather is still cold you run the risk of them becoming hypothermic again if you return them outside too soon.

You can try to put them in with mom, but she will likely reject them. They most likely had hypothermia because she rejected them to begin with. Now that she has been separated from them, and their scent is changed, successful reintroduction is pretty rare.

While I am not a proponent of keeping farm animals indoors, we did make an exception and kept these babies inside for a couple of days. In the meantime, we purchased dog coats for them so when they did return to the barn, they had something that kept in body heat since they wouldn't be laying with mom.

You can make a simple goat coat with a heavy sock. Cut the toe off for the goat's rear end, and cut leg holes.

When they go outside, take all measures to keep them warm.

-Block all drafts

-Keep the kid's area small so heat stays near the babies. Dog house igloos work great to make a cozy kid nest.

-Lay lots of straw bedding

-Heat lamps or animal heating pads can be helpful but should be used with caution to prevent barn fires. If you're going to purchase a heating pad choose a model meant for outdoors, is waterproof, and has a metal coil around the cord to prevent chewing.

-Keep some kind of coat on the kids to keep in body warmth. (Kids are very good at getting out of these types of things, but a well-fitting coat can really help.) I picked up some dog coats at our local Rural King on clearance in the summer. They were $5 each. You can also find small dog coats on Amazon.