Baby Goat Sleep: How Much Do They Sleep and What To Look Out For
If you are a goat farmer or are just thinking about becoming one, you will want to know how much baby goats sleep. It is important to make sure they get enough sleep, but you also don’t want them sleeping too much and not getting up to eat or play.
In this article, Charlotte Riggs, an expert goat farmer, talks about how much sleep baby goats need, and what signs to look for if they aren’t getting enough. We will also give some tips on how to create the best sleeping environment for your little ones!
As any parent knows, getting a good night’s sleep is important for both you and your baby. The same goes for baby goats! They need plenty of sleep to grow and develop properly. So how much sleep do baby goats need? We talked to expert goat farmer, Charlotte Riggs, to find out.
Few things are cuter than sleeping baby goats, but your kids’ sleep patterns can also tell you a lot. With this in mind, we’ve outlined several key things you should know about today’s main question, “how much do baby goats sleep,” to help you find the perfect solutions for your kids’ health.
How Much Sleep Do Baby Goats Need?
Before we go any further, we should clarify how much sleep baby goats actually need. This may not be an easy figure to work out since it will naturally depend on many factors such as the age of your goat, their activity levels, and so on.
Most goats sleep for around 22% of the day – so, at minimum, you’ll likely want to ensure your baby goat is getting 5-6 hours of sleep per day. However, since baby goats are often highly active and have a huge amount of growing to do, the optimal amount of rest time should be closer to 8 hours.
Not that you are going to be able to control the sleep, your baby goats should be in an environment that is suitable for sleeping for at least 8 hours per day. There is plenty more time for fun, frolics and play.
What are the Signs of a Baby Goat who Isn’t Getting Enough Sleep?
If you’ve noticed that your baby goat isn’t quite acting like themselves, there’s a possibility that several different factors could cause the issue. However, in many cases, we overlook the potential of our beloved baby goats not getting enough sleep.
So, what are the signs that your baby goats’ sleeping patterns aren’t enough? Well, baby goats are highly sprightly in themselves, so it may be a little while before you notice this. However, some common signs that kids aren’t sleeping enough could include:
- Slower activity
- Weakness or lethargy
- Reduced responses
- Always being on the go during the day
These are just a few of the signs you might notice if your baby goat isn’t getting enough sleep. Luckily, this is usually a pretty quick fix.
4 Steps to Create the Perfect Sleeping Environment for Baby Goats
Often, the cause behind your beloved baby goat not getting enough sleep can be as simple as not having a comfortable sleeping environment. Indeed, providing baby goats with a suitable place to sleep is crucial.
However, you don’t need to provide your kids with a king-sized four-poster bed to help them sleep. In fact, the perfect sleeping environment for your baby goats can be as simple as:
- Safe and secure so that the kids are able to rest easy without worrying about adults trampling or butting them
- Warm and dry – a damp sleeping area could predispose your goat kids to potential ill thrift, discomfort, or sickness
- Free from draughts that could give your baby goats a chill
- Comfortable bedding so that your baby goats get a restful sleep, rather than sleeping on an uncomfortable surface
These are just a few of the key things you should consider for your baby goat’s bedding area. We make a specific “kid house” for our kids that can be accessed by the newborns but not the mums – it’s lovely seeing them all sleeping in a baby goats pile in there!
3 Tips to Get Your Baby Goats to Sleep Through the Night
At this point, we’ve outlined some of the key things you should know about how to get your baby goats to sleep well. However, if you have bottle kids in the house, you may want to get them to sleep through the night – which can be a big challenge. However, you can encourage them to sleep through the night by:
- Feeding them immediately before bed so they aren’t hungry overnight
- Pen them with another kid or a toy to help them settle and sleep better
- Don’t have distractions in the room that could wake them up and begin demanding milk
The Benefits of Getting Good Sleep for Baby Goats
There are countless benefits of getting good sleep for baby goats! Of course, the exact benefits will vary from kid to kid.
Sleeping well can help your goat kids grow well and reduce the chances of them getting ill. It also allows them to have enough energy to do what goat kids do best – playing!
Final Thoughts
Ask any parent how important sleep is for their little ones, and you’ll probably get a unanimous response that it’s absolutely vital. However, in many cases, it can be hard to judge whether sleeping baby goats are getting enough, too little, or too much sleep. Hopefully, today’s guide might have given you a little more to think about in this regard; however, if you have any concerns about your goat kids’ sleep patterns, contact your vet as soon as possible to find an appropriate solution.
Charlotte Riggs
A passionate owner and breeder of Boer Goats, Charlotte is ensconced in daily goat farm life at Himmon Boer Goats in the UK. A member of the British Boer Goat Society, she spends her spare time also involved with goats. You could say, and she would admit, she is somewhat obsessed!
