Do goats get..

[lupinfarm]

impact colic? Bloat is similar to gas colic, but can they get impact bloat?

Just curious after dealing with my pony not drinking much, she is now btw, but i was curious about goats and colic/bloat.

 

[helmstead]

I recently had a 9 week old buckling come down with an impaction back when the weather started changing and water consumption dropped. Of course, it's the same as a colic, but goat people don't CALL it colic, they call it bloat even though it's not exactly a bloat. It was our first experience with an impaction in a goat, leading me to believe this isn't that common of an occurance.

It WAS diagnosed by a vet, BTW, so I'm not guessing at it. Ironically a fellow producer in my state had the same issue with a buck the same age at exactly the same time.

He survived it, and is off living with his new owner now

There are things you can do to increase water consumption in animals during the winter to avoid colic...adding a flavorant (like Kool Aid) that they enjoy, added electrolytes and table salt to feed, or a flavorant PLUS electrolytes like powdered Gatoraid to the water. When possible, heating the water slightly in the cold weather will also increase consumption.

 

[cmjust0]

Why do you emphasize slightly on heating the water?

I ask because we used to bring warm water to the barn at night when it got cold and they'd go nuts...but then the water would cool and freeze really quickly. So then we started bringing HOT water down thinking they'd drink when it cooled off enough for their liking, and would perhaps be available longer......they loved it. LOVED it. Like, right out of the water-heater hot...hot enough that I prolly couldn't stand to wash my hands in it.

We were a little weirded out at first and thought...man, that can't be good for them...but then we figured they knew best and it's not hurt anybody yet.

Is there something I should know?

 

[helmstead]

AFAIK there isn't an immediate risk to HOT water, but when the idea is continuous steady consumption...you want just slightly warmed water always available, not a couple times a day offering hot water. You don't want to take a bath in it, but bitterly cold isn't appealing to any creature unless it's the heat of summer.

You can even just go so far as to put a fish tank heater (wrapped in metal like chicken wire) in the buckets if you're using small enough troughs (of course you have to secure these WELL as they are a fire hazard if the goats are able to remove them from the water). Large stock tanks will require an actual tank heater.

 

[()relics]

..........
You can even just go so far as to put a fish tank heater (wrapped in metal like chicken wire) in the buckets if you're using small enough troughs (of course you have to secure these WELL as they are a fire hazard if the goats are able to remove them from the water). Large stock tanks will require an actual tank heater.

I never thought of that but I'm going to try it today....Maybe some PVC pipe with some holes drilled in it to protect the heater...I wonder how much my electric bill is going to go up? I doubt those heaters are too energy efficient.....

 

[helmstead]

Now - granted, our electric bill is always high (runs approx $350 to $400 a month)...BUT...we used to breed african cichlids and had no fewer than 6 tanks constantly running in the house (all show tanks and then brooding tanks). We shut them all )except one show tank) down in preparation to move and sold off most of our fish, and I didn't notice a difference in the electric bill...

On the other hand..I can REALLY tell when I have all the heat lamps going in the barn!!! :/

 

[FarmerChick]

anyone carrying hot water to livestock is (for lack of a better word) strange to me (unless the severity of the weather is such the animal can't survive) nature is cold water in winter, warmer in summer.

my herd drinks cold water in winter--never a problem

and the colic is bloat to a rumen

rumens are not ever the same as another animal...they have their own "definations and class of problems" LOL

My automatic stock water keeps the water above freezing to give liquid water and not ice, but it sure isn't warm and everyone drinks.....if truly some critter is not drinking there is usually other factors involved

(remember also that animals are brought into environments that would not be natural to them....like a goat in Alaska..LOL---and some means must be improvised to ensure their survival obviously)

 

[helmstead]

This annoys the crap out of me...because it makes NO sense whatsoever.

Impaction colic is NOT the same as bloat, and I just cannot figure why "they" want to call it that! Now, sure...spasmodic or gas colic would be called bloat. An impaction might LEAD to bloat...but it's a whole different monster.

A blocked intestine is a blocked intestine, no matter WHAT species it's in.

Back to my hole...

 

[cmjust0]

AFAIK there isn't an immediate risk to HOT water, but when the idea is continuous steady consumption...you want just slightly warmed water always available, not a couple times a day offering hot water. You don't want to take a bath in it, but bitterly cold isn't appealing to any creature unless it's the heat of summer.

You can even just go so far as to put a fish tank heater (wrapped in metal like chicken wire) in the buckets if you're using small enough troughs (of course you have to secure these WELL as they are a fire hazard if the goats are able to remove them from the water). Large stock tanks will require an actual tank heater.

I see what you're saying now..

We've actually got a 100gal tank with a de-icer out there for them, but the tank's nearer the house on account of I've yet to run electricity to the barn ( )... So, basically, we just take a few jugs of fresh, clean, hot water to the barn at night so the goats won't have to venture too far out in the cold or weather to get at liquid water.

Ridiculous, I know, but....oh well.

 

[lupinfarm]

I add hot water to their water a couple times a day, they never seem too interested in it but I only have 2 so it's not like the water disappears quickly ANYWAY.

I might put some salt in their feed to get them drinking more though. I'm not worried about my goats, I was just curious.

My goats don't have heated water cause they're a 100ft walk to the water tap and we don't have a plug on their side of the house so running a cord is not feasible. When they move to the old chicken house I will hook up power in there and get them a heated muck bucket too.