I hear these stories year after year- and it never gets less saddening.
Every year there are tragic endings to what was supposed to be a wonderful yet chilly kidding season for many goat owners. 95% of the time this happens because of heat lamps used to keep newborn baby goats warm. Please do not be tempted to use heat lamps. If it is absolutely the coldest night ever then by all means put your foot down and insist the mom and new babies are going to spend the night in the basement, bathroom, kitchen or where ever you have a place for a mom and kids that can be goat proofed in a hurry and will clean after the night is over- it is far better to have a messy house and live newborns than to wake in the middle of the night to tragedy and hearing your beloved goats screaming and not be able to help.
Please! do not be temped to use heat lamps. And even if you DO NOT use heat lamps, leave a door open to your barn, do not close goats in stalls or barns where if there WAS a fire they cannot escape. Please. I beg you.
This being said, We are praying for a gal named Cindy, who just lost her new moms and new babies to a barn fire.
Barn Fire
Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:45 pm (PST)
We just lost our barn and a lot of our goats. Fire department thinks
it was the circuit breaker in the power box (they are supposed to trip
and not explode).
We had 28 does, 13 of which had kidded so guessing about 25 kids, and
the buck (this was my myotonic herd). I was only able to get 10 does
5 kids and the buck out.
The goats kept running back into the burning barn after I dragged
them out. Most of them were burned, some pretty bad so I don't know if
they will make it. Luckily I have a friend that was able willing to
take them for me since I don't have space or feed (hay was stored in
the barn)
We wired this barn with the thought of fires, everything was over
specc'ed and had ground faults, never used a heat lamp and had 'pig
pads' for warming.
Just want to warm everyone to watch their barns, and keep the circuit
box enclosed or well away form flammable stuff. Barns go up fast and
you don't have time for much if the fires do start. And it's the worst
thing to hear the screaming and knowing you can't go in and get them
all. I was lucky to get out as many as I did before the hay loft
fell. I inhaled a lot of smoke and went to the hospital for awhile for
treatment.
Cindy Schindler
Billy Goat Bluff
Lewiston MN
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An Update Feb 5 2009: on Cindy and her Barn and Goats:
The insurance company told us yesterday that they would 'honor' what
we had been told by our agent and cover the cost to replace the
building. What a relief and a glimmer of hope. Going to make darn
sure we got the proper insurance from now on.
The fire dept says it was the cold weather (-15f and -30ish with wind
chill that night) and it had been well below zero for almost 2 weeks.
They say that it is a common cause of barn/shed fires when the temps
get that low for that long, the trip breaker malfunctions and
explodes and arcs sparks.
We have found that now there are new trip breakers on the market that
won't do that and new explosive prof breaker boxes. Everyone might
want to look into getting the new trip breakers, they came out about
2 years ago according to our research.
The goats I got out seem to be doing good and healing, time will tell
how much damage was done to the lungs. Goats are pretty tough no
matter what we think, these poor things were smoked, burned, soaked
and froze and suffering from the loss of their kids and still managed
to pull though.
Thank you everyone for your support and words of encouragement, it
meant alot to us.
Cindy Schindler
Billy Goat Bluff
Lewiston MN
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