# Where do I put their waterers?



## EnglishAcres (Nov 4, 2019)

Hi! New future goat owner here. We have four nigerian dwarf doelings deposited, and we're picking up two of the four next Monday. Our barn is just about finished (contractor says tomorrow, hooray!), so I'm starting to put all of the feeders and waterers in place. 

This may be a dumb question, but for a small herd of four goats, how many different water troughs/systems do you have? Our barn is 24x24 and consists of two 12x12 stalls on the back side. Do I need to put water in each stall, plus more waterers in the pasture? I plan to lock them in one of the stalls at night and the other will be used as a kidding stall whenever we get to that point. 

I live in Central Florida, so freezing water or temperatures aren't an issue. I purchased an auto-filling 5 gallon bucket that we can hang on fences or in the stalls, and my thought was that because it has a lid, it would keep mosquitos and leaves out. We live about a mile or so from a lake, and we get a HUGE influx of annoying blind mosquitos during warmer months, so I'm always hesitant to leave out standing water.


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## Chelsey (Dec 7, 2018)

For me, that would depend on your water source. I would put one in the stall and at least one in the pasture. You’ll want to clean out the troughs regularly so that it isn’t growing anything nasty and doesn’t grow mosquitoes. Basically, if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t expect them to. You’ll need one in the other stall when it becomes a kidding stall too. They have waterers that have a small cup and only fills on demand that I’ve seen people use, those absolutely have to be checked DAILY, at minimum, so you know they’re working.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

You want your goats to walk. put your hay water and barns as spred out as you can.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Put the waterer above the height of the rear ends. ( goats love to poop in their water, they do it on purpose! I'm sure of it!) I put a cement block by each bucket, so they can reach the water, but not poop in the buckets. Some manage to get an occasional poop pellet, and they won't drink it ever! 

Each closed pen needs a water source. 

Make sure your water sources can be easily cleaned, will survive being stood in, run into and have no chewable areas to cause leaks. Goats are pretty destructive. 

Not tying to scare you, just would hate to have you do all the work and have the sweet goats destroy everything in a few months.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

goats love to poop in their water, they do it on purpose! I'm sure of it!



Hahahahha amen!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

fivemoremiles said:


> You want your goats to walk. put your hay water and barns as spred out as you can.


I agree with this! Even though my goats have plenty of room to roam if I had feed water and shelter all in the same spot they wouldn't leave from that area. These are also heavy traffic areas and can cause a lot of mud. I had all my water troughs by the gates, it was easy for me to have it right there to clean out if I needed to or Whatever and it soon became a nasty mess I was having to slosh threw.


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## EnglishAcres (Nov 4, 2019)

All good points! Well maybe the bucket that I ordered may not be the best plan if they might be prone to chewing it (which is why I only bought one before investing in more of them - to see if it would work well.) I've seen those stainless steel type auto filling waterers and may consider those as well, or maybe a couple different types and see what works and what doesn't for our area. Though the metal ones seem easier to clean than plastic. Our chickens have a vertical nipple type waterer that is hooked directly to a hose and it works great, but I've yet to come across anything comparable for goats, probably because they'd eat it, haha!

This is my first step into larger farm animals. I've had chickens for several years, and now that we've moved onto our 11 acre forever property (seriously, I'm NEVER moving again. Ever.) I'm so excited to FINALLY have the goats that I've wanted for years. But now I'm also overthinking everything and have a million questions. This forum has been awesome as I've been browsing for a few months now.


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## EnglishAcres (Nov 4, 2019)

While we're on the subject, what about feeders? Obviously the loose minerals will need to be in the stalls so they're covered from rain. What about hay feeders? I just purchased two that hang on the walls of the stalls. Do they need one in the pasture as well so they can get some exercise walking to it, or would they probably ignore that one if there's already hay in the barn? They're not in a terribly large pasture to start - about 3/4 of an acre that has a lot of mature oak trees and lots of shade, but we have several acres behind them and to the side of them that we plan to fence in next year, giving them about 5 acres total of pasture and heavily wooded areas.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I would also have one for out In the pasture area. If they hang out in that stall your going to be cleaning it a lot. It is amazing how fast goats can get a area messy. I swear one bale of hay ends up being 3 bales worth of poop! But the ones that hang on the stalls if they hang on the fence you could just move them back and forth. But the ones in the stall is a good idea for rainy days. Or if you end up having them graze more you can just use the feeders in the stalls at night to bring them chum them in at night. 
But your just starting and once you get your goats your probably going to realize a ton of things that you will want to buy, or do things different. So maybe don’t go totally nuts on buying everything all at once. If the feeders for the stalls are small enough it won’t kill you to move out onto their fence just start there. The mineral feeders I would have inside though. If it dews and it gets wet the goats will turn their nose up at it. The minerals are also not something that they will stand there for hours and hours eating on.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:up:


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## Mike at Capra Vista (Nov 30, 2017)

For a different perspective ......

Firstly, put things where they are convenient for you. You are the one having to fill and clean feeders and waterers. Anything that saves you steps, time or effort, you will be thankful for down the road. Easier chores get done more. You will also find that you will change things as you go. Something will occur to you, at some time, that will make things easier for you or better for the goats. Don't be afraid to change things up.

Your acreage sounds wonderful, btw.


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## Robinsonfarm (Jul 17, 2015)

My goats have to go outside for water year round, unless they are in a kidding pen. 
The exercise is good for them and eating and drinking outside keep the barn cleaner. 

The water tank is somewhere that is convenient for me to fill and is serves two pens with one tank.


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## NDinKY (Aug 3, 2019)

We have a low rubber trough in the does stall (10’x36’) and one outside that is larger (Rubbermaid). They do like to poop in them, so we ended up moving the inside one to the corner furthest from the door they use to get outside and away from the hay feeders. Since we’ve done that they haven’t pooped in it. The outdoor one is also away from their hay feeder and rarely gets pooped in. 

For hay, we have a 6 slot keyhole feeder and several other hay racks inside (my goats don’t have horns). Outside we build a covered hay rack. During the day, their hay is put outside, weather dependent. At night it’s fed inside as we lock our goats up for predator protection. All minerals are inside. 

Our bucks are a similar set up inside, except they’re all tall enough to use 5 g buckets for water instead of a trough. We’re going to be building them a keyhole feeder as well, it saves so much hay. 

Your doelings may be too short to reach a 5 g bucket. You may want to look into several 2 g buckets until they’re taller. That’s what we use in kidding pens especially when the kids are newborn so they don’t accidentally drown. Plastic buckets work well for us. We clip them in to a screw eye with a double end snap. We only use steel for milking.


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## EnglishAcres (Nov 4, 2019)

I'm actually thinking of building a covered feeder since it doesn't sounds like I want to feed inside the stalls during the day unless there is inclement weather.

As far as the 5 gallon bucket, this is what I purchased to try. It's covered and there's a large animal nipple attached. It got good reviews, so we'll see. Has anyone else ever used something like this?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I have not used those waterers but I would worry about them getting enough at once at one time. I can’t say this for sure would be a issue but I don’t know if I would use that out in your pasture area. Maybe start in their night stall and see how it goes first ??


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