# Anyone else's goats have expensive tastes?



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

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:


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

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


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## Frosty (Feb 13, 2010)

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


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

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.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

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:


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

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:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

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


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## thegoatmama (Mar 19, 2015)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

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


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

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:


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## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

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!


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## Crazy4Goats (Jul 18, 2015)

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.


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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:


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

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:


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## thegoatmama (Mar 19, 2015)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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:



Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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?



Bansil said:


> :wave:
> 
> Let's see...
> 
> ...


Bansil, I love your stories! :lol:



Bansil said:


> 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.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

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


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## Crazy4Goats (Jul 18, 2015)

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


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

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


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

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!


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## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

$3.50 for excellent hay? Sheesh, send me some!


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

I'll take 100 bales at that price!!!


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## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

We pay $3.25 for orchard. These are packed tighter than crap. When you cut the strings it's sounds like a bomb. :-/ 

$5 for mixed grass/leafy bales.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Ha! And here I was all stoked for finding a load of hay for $9, decent, not awesome, not bad, just decent lol


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## thegoatmama (Mar 19, 2015)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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.


Wow! Seriously impressive. :clap:



Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> 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


They really are. :lol:
Some of my goats like bananas, no peel, others like the peel only and I have one girl that will eat the whole thing! Then I have 3 different types of guava on my farm: cuban (sweet) yellow, sour yellow and sour strawberry...and over the years I've had some goats refuse the sweet and want only sour and vice versa...it reminds me of those old activity books "how many combinations can you make"? :lol:


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## Crazy4Goats (Jul 18, 2015)

Valentines Day Goats


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## thegoatmama (Mar 19, 2015)

:lol: Oh I plan on it! :lovey:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

After 20 minutes of trying to find my own threads (been a while since I've been on, the site is totally different!), I have decided to revive this old and quite dead thread!
I'm back with a smer time update on my girls newest favorite flavors!
They are really enjoying guava juice this summer, as well as limeade, cherry, pomegranate-apple, peach, white-cran peach, and blueberry mixes! 
Though I must say the most downright picky goat I have right now is Enchanté, such a critic of everything!


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## Oreosmom (Nov 19, 2016)

Mama Oreo can stomach deluted juices, but baby Feta who's no baby now at 10 months still has to be on a low fruit diet otherwise her poop gets clumply. Oreo was very young when she had Feta, the vet said under a year for sure. But she has not had any problems eating anything I give her.. depending she likes it! Alfalfa here is 20 - 23 dollars a bale, sleeping straw 8 - 10.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They sure are getting some fancy juices! :-D


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

My goats get home made apple cider vinegar in their water sometimes, but that is about it. They drink plenty of water, so I don't have to make them. They are big on veggies or most fruit, but love bread, cookies (especially Ginger Snaps), donuts and beer.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Mine just get plain water lol  At least they get hot or cold depending on the season! :haha:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Suzanne_Tyler said:


> Mine just get plain water lol  At least they get hot or cold depending on the season! :haha:


That's still more spoiled then mine lol but granted it doesn't get all that cold here, if it freezes it's defrosted at about 10 am.
Man my goats think they hit the jackpot simply getting selenium salt and their favorite thing is when they run out of their minerals and have to get the TSC kind till theirs is in and they think that day is Christmas Lol


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

I just realized my goats are positively abused. Please do not talk to them about this. I thought it was bad enough that they won't drink their water if it has ANYTHING in it. They like to get a mouth full of hay then stand over the water so some falls in. Once it does they practically fall to the ground screaming that they are at death's door because they have no clean, drinkable water. Lol


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## capracreek (Apr 5, 2016)

Definitely neglected here - Plain water and ACV when I think of it. They are goats right???? WRONG - we have built play grounds, barrels, and bought the play ground plastic equipment or their entertainment. Does anyone worry about diabetes with all the sugar??? Just my thought???


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

It's so diluted it's not a concern at all for me, no more sugary that molasses on the grain. 
My girls have already gained at least 5-10lbs in a week though, just by increased water intake. And they're milking like crazy!


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## Oreosmom (Nov 19, 2016)

New-goat-mom said:


> I just realized my goats are positively abused. Please do not talk to them about this. I thought it was bad enough that they won't drink their water if it has ANYTHING in it. They like to get a mouth full of hay then stand over the water so some falls in. Once it does they practically fall to the ground screaming that they are at death's door because they have no clean, drinkable water. Lol


Don't feel bad New-goat-mom.. My mama goat Oreo gets on the decks banaster so she can see into the family room and baa's at us at the top of her lungs because a fly might pass by her water. She does the alfalfa dump thing too, or she will drop just one poop pellet, even an alfalfa pellet! LOL she's crying now for something.. sometimes it's easier to just let her in( she runs to the kitchen) so she can pic out what she want. ( Goat treats kept on lower shelf in pantry) lol looks like a oat and honey bar today!


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

Lol oh my OreosMom... You are killing me! You are Feta's mom, too, right? My 17 y/o loves that there is a goat named Feta. He says that when our goats have babies any we keep are getting food names. He named our buck Mr Coffee. *Sigh*


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## Oreosmom (Nov 19, 2016)

Yes, New-goat-mom Feta is mine too. Oreo found us last September, almost a month to the day later she had baby Feta. If it were twins Bree was second pick. We had never expected to be goatherders...ever.. but when we couldn't find Oreo's owners, and personally delivered little Feta (cheese head to those close to her) What else could we do? So we love and spoil them


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## darth (Jun 13, 2017)

If everyone could just write down your addresses for me and I will be sure to come live with each of you for a while! I have no problems what so ever bunking in with your goats, good drinks, good feed and comfy beds! In fact I feel terrible just buying quality feed and very clean rainwater for my little darlings! Yesterday I stood over one of my sheep with an umbrella while she was in labour. My husband branded me a complete nut and my daughters eyes nearly rolled out of her head with disgust. The only reason I held the umbrella was she was too far along to move to the kitchen.


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