Like all animals, goats need water to survive. Water is used to maintain the proper body temperature, eliminate waste products, lubricate joints, and protect tissues throughout the body. Water is stored in cells, lymph, blood, and water in the digestive tract.
Goats generally drink 1-3 gallons of water per day, although this will vary depending on size, diet, weather, environment, and whether they are lactating. Those on lush pasture can get much of their water from the plants. In hot, dry weather, they require more water.
Sixty percent of a goat’s weight is water, although some goats that are adapted to a desert climate have a water content of 76% and can store three or four days worth of water in the rumen.
A lack of water—whether from diarrhea, fever, heat, or any other cause—can cause a goat to become dehydrated. Dehydration decreases blood volume, increases heart rate, decreases urination, and causes less milk production. The goat may begin to eat less, and may develop hypocalcemia. For bucks and wethers, dehydration can cause urolithiasis (bladder stones).
Weakness, weight loss, sunken eyes, decreased urination, and skin changes are all indicators that a goat may be dehydrated. (See sidebar for testing skin for dehydration.)
Severe dehydration in a goat will require a veterinarian to give IV fluids. For a less severely dehydrated goat, sterile water or Ringer’s lactate can be given very slowly under the skin (SQ) in various locations with a large needle. An online tutorial can be found at Goat-Link: https://goat-link.com/content/view/207/195/.
Test for Dehydration :
To test for dehydration, pinch the skin of the neck in front of the shoulder between your thumb and first finger. If it does not snap back quickly but remains tented, it means that the goat is dehydrated.
Unlike camels, which can go for long periods of time without drinking and drink up to 30 gallons of water at one time, goats need a regular source of water to function. Camels can lose up to 40% of their body weight without dying. They have oval-shaped blood cells that are elastic and can change shape without adverse effects.
Goats have small, fragile red blood cells (erythrocytes). If they drink massive amounts of water, these cells can burst (called hemolysis). Red urine is a sign that this has happened. Excessive hemolysis can cause anemia. A sign that a goat has anemia is that the inside of the eyelids is light in color rather than the bright pink seen in a healthy goat.
Tips to Keep Goats Drinking Water:
Drinking cold water in the winter or eating snow can cause a goat’s temperature to decrease, which increases energy requirements to maintain the body. Once the rumen is chilled, it can take up to two hours to get back to normal temperature.
Water and Lactation
Milk is comprised of 90% water, so lactating does need more water. A lactating doe needs an extra quart of water for each pint of milk she produces. Nature takes care of that, in part: oxytocin, which is released when a goat is nursing, can signal her body that she needs to drink more water. As long as she is well and she has access to a good water source, lack of hydration should not be a problem. If you find that a doe’s milk production is decreasing drastically, consider her water consumption and whether you can encourage it with some of the tips listed above. If she is eating only dry hay, consider adding some fresh browse to her diet, too.
Kids and Water
Kids can get all of their nutrition and water from their dam’s milk, however, they need to have water available early on for proper rumen development. This is because when a kid drinks from a teat or a nipple, the esophageal groove closes and the milk bypasses the rumen and goes directly into the abomasum.
Rumen development requires that they eat hay (and/or grain) and drink water. When they eat these solid foods or drink from a bucket, the rumen is not bypassed, and fermentation takes place.
Anyone who has watched goats in the barn knows that kids emulate what their dams do. Some may even start trying to eat hay or grass and drink water as early as the first week of life. For bottle-fed kids, it is important to make water available in a bucket or pan, along with hay, so they learn how to drink and they can be safely weaned at 8 weeks or older. They should be chewing cud at this point, which means that the rumen is working properly.
Lately, a number of new goat owners have reported on Facebook groups that they are giving their weaned kids water in a bottle, or asked if it was all right to do so. The owners didn’t think the kids would drink water, or they felt bad because the kids were crying for their bottle. Kids should never be fed water in a bottle. They can get water toxicity and, if fed a large amount, their red blood cells can burst as mentioned above.
Summary
Water is essential to thriving and surviving goats. It is needed for adequate milk production, rumen development, and to keep goats healthy overall. Goat owners can follow some simple steps to ensuring that their goats—whether kids, milking does, wethers, or bucks—are drinking the right amount.
References:
Flood, Rebecca. “People Have Only Just Realized How Camels Drink Water and They’re in Shock.” Newsweek. June 30, 2021.
Samara, EM, et al. 2012. “A comparative thermophysiological study on water-deprived goats and camels.” J Applied Animal Research 40(4). doi.org/10.1080/09712119.2012.692326.
Smith, Cheryl K. 2019. Goat Health Care, 2nd ed. Cheshire, Oregon: karmadillo Press. P 5. Smith, Mary C., and David M. Sherman. 2009. Goat Medicine, 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell. P. 751-52.
USDA. Cooperative extension office. 2019. “Goat Nutrition Water. https://goats.extension.org/goat-nutrition-water/
