So, no, you don’t need to worry about giving your goats blankets.
As long as you provide for the things they really need, they won’t benefit from a blanket.
Goats are hardy creatures, and do pretty well in the cold, generally speaking.
Let’s look further into this.
Should you put blankets on goats?
The simple answer is no.
There’s really no need to.
Your goats won’t benefit from having blankets put on them for a few reasons.
Their fur has to serve the purpose of trapping warm air close to the goat’s body in order to keep it as warm as possible.
So, effectively, when you throw a blanket on them, the hot air is being trapped by the blanket against the fur—further from the skin, in other words.
Your goat’s fur should be warm enough in any case to endure the cold winter.
Goats are really quite hardy animals and do well in virtually any climate, provided they have the fur for it.
Different breeds of goat do have coats adapted for different climates, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Don’t take a goat from a perennial warm desert into the frozen north.
In any case, your goat’s own fur should be doing the job of keeping it warm.
So, how cold is too cold for goats, then?
How cold is too cold for goats?
In general, goats can withstand a 32 F day.
They can put up with that level of cold—but again, not all breeds.
Some will have a much harder time with this than others.
If your goats have thick fur and their pedigree hails from somewhere in the northern hemisphere, they will most likely be fine even in freezing temperatures.
They will need somewhere to sleep at night still, but they won’t need blankets.
However, many of the goat breeds extant today come from places where it is desert weather all year round.
These goats, naturally, won’t do very well in cold weather.
Again, goats are remarkably hardy, so they’d do better than many other animals.
But breeds should be raised in requisite temperatures.
How do you keep goats warm in the winter, then?
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How do I keep my goats warm in the winter?
If not blankets, what can I do to keep my goats warm in the winter?
Well, there are a few essential things, and some extra you can do on top of that.
Firstly, and most importantly, they need somewhere to go indoors at night.
This isn’t even just a temperature thing but for safety, too.
This will prevent basic exposure to the elements like wind and rain.
Then, they will need lots and lots of good quality bedding in their barn.
I’ll get into what exactly to use shortly, but you need to be always making sure they have plenty and replacing it where needed.
The other thing you can do is to get electric heaters in their barn or enclosure for the winter months.
They will absolutely love these, and won’t move from them once you’ve installed them.
It can be a fairly large energy expense, but no doubt it’s the most effective way of creating a warm space for them.
For the most part, though, goats will be fine with good bedding and a barn.
Some goats hail from the coldest inhabited regions of the planet, and they would do fine in any case.
So, what should you use as bedding?
What is the best bedding to use for goats?
Something like straw is the best bedding to use.
The most widely used form of goat bedding is pine shavings because they’re really easy to manage, cost-effective, and the shavings are absorbent, too.
You can spot and clean wet areas easily, and just throw any soiled shavings into the compost.
So, if you get pine shavings, then that’s your best shot.
Ordinary straw will do just fine, though, as will various other, similar kinds of tree shavings.
Cedar shavings also work well, though goats have gotten into some trouble with eating it in the past.
Straw or pine shavings are your best bet.
So, there are lots of things you’ll need to do to make sure your goats are comfortable.
Don’t get me wrong. Blankets, though, just aren’t really one of them.
Blankets won’t really help them keep warm, and they might even just irritate the goat in the first place.
As long as they have an indoor enclosure to go in at night as well as quality bedding in there, they won’t have any problem keeping warm.