[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

So in efforts to keep water consumption high in the winter, I give the goats some warm bucketfuls of something sweet and tasty, like kool-aid or warm lemonade even.

This year I've started to venture out of drink mixes and have been trying real juice and juice blends, because only the finest will do of course Mine so far have a taste for pineapple juice, apple cider, spiced pear cider, and a blend of the pineapple and pear-- so spiced pineapple pear. It is thoroughly enjoyed on cold days, so much so that 10 gallons was gone in less than half an hour! :shocked:

I later offered some cranberry cocktail, and almost nobody would touch it until I added a gallon of some fancy, certified organic, "Fruit of the World", Brazilian, Zola brand name, Acai juice that costs $7 per quart :lol: They even continued to drink it after Roxanne accidentally stuck her muddy foot in it
Regardless they should be loaded up on all kinds of antioxidants and vitamins!

Please tell me I'm not the only one that dotes on their goats like this :help: :lol:

 

[NyGoatMom]

Ummm.....you might be :lol: That's cute though...mine get water lol Poor things! :lol:

 

[Frosty]

I haven't tried any of those but I do buy tang and mix it in their water to get them to drink more and just cause they like it. Now I probably will have to try some of your ideas. lol

 

[MoonShadow]

Great ideas!!! I'm always trying to get my goats to drink more water(they don't drink enough in my opinion lol) I'll have o try some of these.

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

Mine like tang too, but it's not at the top of their list. I actually thought they quit making it until I found it at walmart this past summer! I was so excited, I used to drink it all the time! :lol:
Oh and of course they do drink water, this enhances the experience though :lol: But just plain water? Your poor abused goats, Stephanie! :ROFL:

 

[margaret]

Nothing but water for my poor goats:lol:
And furthermore, if they happen to get it dirty then they have to drink dirty water for a few hours until I come clean it out:lol:
AND, it's cold water:ROFL:
Actually I have a hot water heater in the barn and it only heats 2 gallons at a time...so, if I wanted to give them all warm water then, well yeah that just wouldn't work. They get warm water if they are sick or just had kids and other than that, um, nothing:lol:

 

[Jessica84]

Your goats would commit suicide if they ever had to live at my house lol. Nothing but normal water and I was actually just thinking when I add to their pen I'll include the stream that's on the back side that way it'll save me having to water for a few months out of the year lol

 

[thegoatmama]

So in efforts to keep water consumption high in the winter, I give the goats some warm bucketfuls of something sweet and tasty, like kool-aid or warm lemonade even.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that dotes on their goats like this :help: :lol:

:lol: Wow Little-Biits-N-Pieces...and i thought my goats were spoiled! :hi5:
I haven't gone quite to those lengths (yet!). My goats do love their Gatorade though!
One of my does was at the end of her second pregnancy and wasn't drinking enough water and got really dehydrated (sunken eyelids). I started offering as much Gatorade as she would drink and she preferred more or less a quart at a time (which averaged about twice a day). That got expensive, fast! She rehydrated well and her eyes returned to normal before she kidded triplets.
Now when she sees a bottle with the familiar yellow color, whether its actually for her or not, she wants some. :laugh:

 

[goathiker]

The outside goats here have to drink plain cold water right from the stream :lol:

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

DH said when it comes to my goats, my relationship with them is "Yes, love, whatever love wants." :lol: I'm neither confirming nor denying that statement, and he may or may not be jealous :ROFL:

But honestly, if I can get sponsored by Kool-Aid, I totally would be advertising it everywhere :lol: My skinny goat gained 60lbs on Kool-Aid (totally the opposite of Jenny Craig :lol: ) after she got over her multiple bouts of pneumonia in 3 months time. I'm now a firm believer in Kool-Aid, it saves lives :ROFL:

 

[nannysrus]

I give mine water with homemade grape juice or homemade apple juice. Whoa boy can they make a 5 gallon bucket disappear fast!

DH says Im going to ruin them and teach them only to drink "special" water.

I keep fermented water, ACV water, and plain water out for them 24/7. Fruit water is a fine treat!

 

[Crazy4Goats]

I give them piping hot water twice a day. They end up drinks (give or take) a gallon. You should definitely try plain hot water. Not warm. 90-100 decree water.

 

[Bansil]

Anyone else's goats have expensive tastes?

:wave:

Let's see...

"honey let's buy A goat, it will keep the grass down"

Well you can not buy 1 goat, we need a herd because they are social and stuff = 3 goats later we have a small herd of Goats

Goats will stay in the area...ugh, no they wont...we need a lot (luckily it needed minimal work)...well, that wasn't big enough, so 500 feet of fence and 50 posts later...they now have a place to live safely...because of "the cute thing" and "the pet thing" we can't let them roam the "hood" with dogs and 'yotes running loose

oh! on "the cut thing" we decided on Pygmy's...not the $25 goats up the road (I am glad about this)...and "the pet thing" we decided a $50 250 lb goat wouldn't work...thank the lordy we made that decision :shock: Moonbeam is big enough and can push me around :lol:

So...where was I?:shades:

Ah! Goats are not lawn mowers!!!

That is what sheep are for :stars: but...we now had goats, so we have to buy food and hay and clean heated water bowls and various minerals and such...even though the local goats just roam the hillsides all year long....opcorn:

So have I covered everything? opcorn:

Nope! they need a place to sleep and stay out of the cold and wind...so I built them a house with lights (because using headlights for everything is a pain) and heat...Heat?? yup it's one of those nurturing motherly love things :baby:

and since I was tired of being extra wet while feeding them, I built a covered walkway between their house and the feeding area

the cheapest thing I have done was the playground...the barrels were free and since I work at $0.00 an hour they got off cheap...wooo..I'm tired and broke after writing that

SO do our goats have $$$ tastes??? NO, but we don't have grandkids to spoil yet :wahoo::lol:

 

[Bansil]

We are lucky that .99 faux Cheerios are a hit :thumbup:

now animal crackers actually have to be real, they wont eat cheap knock off animal crackers :yum:

 

[thegoatmama]

DH said when it comes to my goats, my relationship with them is "Yes, love, whatever love wants." :lol: I'm neither confirming nor denying that statement, and he may or may not be jealous :ROFL:

:slapfloor: :slapfloor: :slapfloor: That is just beautiful. :lol:

But honestly, if I can get sponsored by Kool-Aid, I totally would be advertising it everywhere :lol: My skinny goat gained 60lbs on Kool-Aid (totally the opposite of Jenny Craig :lol: ) after she got over her multiple bouts of pneumonia in 3 months time. I'm now a firm believer in Kool-Aid, it saves lives :ROFL:

Wow. Kool-Aid? Seriously? That is awesome to know! Now I have a back-up when Walmart runs out of Gatorade. Thank you!! Did your no-longer-skinny girl prefer a flavor?

:wave:

Let's see...

the cheapest thing I have done was the playground...the barrels were free and since I work at $0.00 an hour they got off cheap...wooo..I'm tired and broke after writing that

SO do our goats have $$$ tastes??? NO, but we don't have grandkids to spoil yet :wahoo::lol:

Bansil, I love your stories! :lol:

We are lucky that .99 faux Cheerios are a hit :thumbup:

now animal crackers actually have to be real, they wont eat cheap knock off animal crackers :yum:

:laugh: Cannibals.

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

Her favorite Kool-Aid flavor was the Tropical Punch And seriously! She was down to literally skin and bones, she weighed 95lbs and she's normally around 220-ish. After Kool-Aid, she was back up to 175. She was getting no grain at all, just alfalfa hay, browse here and there, water and kool-aid.

Tonight they tried pomegranate juice with the acai berry juice puree and it was a big hit, that was gone in a couple minutes!

I'm rather enjoying finding out what all they like and don't like, a lot of them like the same things and some do not want anything to do with certain foods and drinks. They're all so individual, it's fun

 

[Crazy4Goats]

Mine love hot water, apples, wheat thins, saltine crackers, and my hair. Lol

 

[Bansil]

But honestly, if I can get sponsored by Kool-Aid, I totally would be advertising it everywhere :lol: My skinny goat gained 60lbs on Kool-Aid (totally the opposite of Jenny Craig :lol: ) after she got over her multiple bouts of pneumonia in 3 months time. I'm now a firm believer in Kool-Aid, it saves lives :ROFL:

:think:

so lets do some marketing, maybe get a free supply of Kool-aid for your goats

Get a t-shirt and have something like this painted on it:

OR

at the next show put it on one of the goat's and put a trophy or two in front (do a 3/4 shot) and then email it to Kool-aid with a story of how it has saved several of your kids from dehydration and you love the product they have

Plus their are 1000's of peoples kids at these events who would love a kool-aid sponsored goat to take pictures with

maybe??? we could make this work...think outside the box:stars::stars:

If that works I could try a shirt like this for Andrious

For fun google kool-aid + donk (may have unsafe photos->beware)

we could have a whole slew of new advertising out in the world

 

[margaret]

I think that would be a lot of Kool-Aid, for Lacie's goats to have a free supply:lol:

 

[groovyoldlady]

Wow...We're running into a hay shortage here, so we're doing all we can to NOT spend extra money on the goats. They do get hot water twice a day with a shot of acv in it. But if my parole officer catches me doling out fancy stuff to the livestock he might BBQ all of them!

Sidenote: Usually hay is very abundant here in Maine, but last summer just wasn't a great season for haying. Seems like everyone is starting to scramble now as they realized supplies are low and there won't be any new hay until June or July. I have found 2 sources, one has "rejected" hay that I would have to pick through (it's generally good hay with some black spots) for $4 a bale or I can get "good" hay for $5. I have been paying $3.50 for excellent hay, so...bummer!