Whether you’re keeping goats for commercial purposes or as pets, it’s essential to make sure they are healthy and happy.
Your choice of shelter and bedding for goats, to a large extent, determines their health and comfort. Over time, we’ve learned that hemp bedding is the best for goats, as we’ll elaborate in this guide.
Try our hemp bedding today or let’s learn more about what makes hemp bedding right for goats and other animals.
Hemp bedding is made from the stalk of the Cannabis plant. It is then mulched down into a straw-like product to make it more natural, soft, and absorbent. Since time immemorial, hemp has been used in the textile industry, the production of beauty products, and rope production.
Hemp is a versatile plant that requires minimal care when growing. The plant has pest-repellent properties that enable it to resist any attacks in the soil. Thus, the hemp plant grows without requiring any pesticides or fertilizers.
Goats love sleeping on a raised platform because they enjoy climbing, and it also helps to keep them dry away from urine. You can use pallets to raise a sleeping platform for your goats. The pallets should get fixed in such a way that it’s stable to protect your goats from tripping over. Goats also enjoy sleeping on warm and comfortable bedding because it protects them from wetness.
Yes, you can use hay for goat bedding. However, hay is quite expensive, which will affect your finances in the long run. Goats also love eating on the hay, which means they could end up eating their bedding. It becomes even worse if your goats feed on hay mixed with poo and urine because it could lead to worm infestation. This means you’re only left with one choice – hemp!
If you’re wondering why your goats cannot sleep on the bare floor, here are some of the reasons we recommend goat bedding. To act as successful bedding for goats, the substance must:
Bedding absorbs urine so that your animals can sleep on a dry surface. If you have kept the goats for fleece harvesting, it means that the fleece will remain in good condition.
Urine also tends to attract flies which aren’t a good sight in your goat barn. Flies can bring about diseases such as dysentery.
Urine also contains ammonia which is an unpleasant smell for you and your animals. The smell can lead to respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. Goats sleeping on a floor filled with urine can also expose them to cold.
Most goat farmers don’t have good barns for their goats. These barns allow in drafts through spaces on the walls, doors, and windows. Goat bedding allows your animal to burrow in whenever strong winds are coming through.
During colder months in autumn and winter, your goats need warmth just like you do. You cannot afford to leave them on the bare floor because they could suffer from extreme temperatures. Our hemp bedding keeps your goats warm throughout the cold season.
Usually, as the hemp decomposes in urine and poop, it generates heat which keeps animals warm in the cold.
Goatskin and feet are exceptionally delicate, and your choice of bedding could keep them comfortable or not. You want to make sure that the bedding is soft enough to offer your animals a soft cushion to sleep on. Lesions and abscesses are common problems with goats. You can avoid these problems by providing our Dominion Hemp for your goats.
Goats need a clean environment to live a healthy and happy life. Deep cleaning of the barn is necessary at least once a month, depending on your choice of bedding. Goats living on bare floors often soil themselves with urine and poop.
Here are some of the conditions you could deal with if your goats aren’t maintained in a clean environment.
These are small lumps that appear on the lymph nodes near the head and neck. The lumps can also occur in any other part of the body. Pus may come out of the swellings and eventually form a mass of fibrous tissue. The cause of abscesses is pricking by bedding or grass while feeding. It’s only fair to your goats if you buy them soft bedding like hemp.
Pneumonia is a lower respiratory disease that affects goats and sheep. The disease is either caused by a virus or bacteria and affects the lung tissues. A sick goat will have nasal discharge, lots of sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and difficulties in breathing.
The leading cause of Pneumonia in goats is poor ventilation and smelly bedding. Ensure that your goat house has good ventilation and is free from odors by choosing highly absorbent bedding like hemp.
Diarrhea is a common problem among farm animals exposed to unsanitary conditions. Diarrhea happens due to worm infestation, and food and drink contamination. A sick goat or sheep will pass loose stool, lack appetite, appear fatigued, and be disinterested in the environment.
Hygiene is the best prevention for cases of diarrhea in goats. Hemp bedding is clean because it absorbs waste four times better than standard bedding.
Still not convinced about hemp bedding? Here are the benefits of using hemp for your goat barns.
Hemp is highly absorbent and can absorb up to 4 times its weight. Therefore, the bedding can absorb goat urine, leaving your goats feeling more comfortable and dry. Hemp has deep pockets that trap moisture preventing mold accumulation.
Mold is a leading cause of respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia that affect goats. Besides, wetness on the floor can cause foot rot in goats. Footrot is an infection that starts from a small wound when goats are exposed to damp conditions.
Hemp is also odor-free, meaning that it will help keep flies away from your goat house. Hemp bedding has air pockets that trap all urine and poop smells. Therefore, you can rest assured of a clean and non-smelly barn for your goats. The clean smell also gives you a comfortable space to work from as you feed or clean for your animals.
Hemp naturally has antibacterial properties that make it repellant to pests and diseases. You can say goodbye to common bacterial illnesses such as Pneumonia and abscesses with hemp bedding.
Every farmer wants well-composted manure from the goat barn. Hemp is highly biodegradable, meaning that it fully decomposes, incorporating the goat waste. Do you want goat manure for sale or for your kitchen garden? Make use of hemp bedding for your goats!
Unlike other types of bedding like wood shavings, aspen, cedar, or hay, hemp is low in dust. Your goats can breathe without any dust irritating their respiratory system. If you’re allergic to dust, you also want to make sure you use dust-free bedding in your animal house.
As a farmer, you want to minimize costs while maximizing profits. Animal bedding can take a heavy toll on your finances in the long run. Hemp is cost-effective because it’s highly absorbent, which reduces change times. Eventually, you’ll spend less keeping your goats comfortable.
Now that you already know the benefits of hemp bedding for your goat barns, the next question is where to buy it. At Old Dominion, we pride ourselves as the best sellers of quality hemp animal bedding.
Order your bale of hemp and keep your goats healthy!