Goat loves cleaning products

[SuperChemicalGirl]

I let my goats out of their area when I'm outside doing the farm chores. They enjoy getting to run around like crazy and getting to browse on everything that they stare at all day and can't reach from their pen.

Once a week I do an intensive scrub on the feeders and waterers on the farm.

Recently, Caramel (LaMancha/Oberhasli cross) has decided that cleaning agents are delicious.

Three weeks ago I used Seventh Generation liquid dish soap without fragrances or colors. She loved it so much she was chewing on the top of the dispenser to get at it. I soak the rubber chicken and duck feeders while I scrub everything else, and then scrub them last so that they are easy to scrub. She wouldn't stop drinking the water and soap suds! I had to lock her up. The other goat Pippy (Nubian) didn't want anything to do with it.

Two weeks ago I used Dial hand soap with Triclosan, thinking that the taste would turn her off. It didn't. She wouldn't stop drinking the water and suds.

Today I used Chlorox Clean Up (bleach). I had just finished spraying a few sprays in a chicken waterer, and she stuck her head in and started slurping it up. It wasn't even cut with water! I had to drag her away.

Interestingly, the ducks also can't resist a bucket full of water, and they'll stick their heads in the soapy or bleachy water, too. I'm not too concerned about them, but I'm concerned about my goat's rumen. Why is she enjoying soap and bleach? Maybe there's something lacking in her diet?

 

[elevan]

Why is she doing this? IDK, but it's not good for her for sure.

Does she have minerals available to her at all times?

 

[Chevoner]

That's puzzling for sure!
I think elevan is onto something; from what I've read, behavior like you describe can indicate something lacking in their diet the goats try to make up for.
I have almost zero first-hand experience with goats (for now ) but I do read a lot! Good luck to you!

 

[Moonshine]

You know that's really funny my goats have been mineral deficit (because I didn't know they wouldn't eat the wet minerals till I joined here), but 2 have really turned around and are getting their color back. One girl on the other hand is just really picky and I have to put little treats in the minerals to get her to eat them. She is supposed to be black but she's really rusty colored instead. Anyway, she jumped up on an outside table and sucked down some bubbles DS had in a cup. I was waiting for her to baaaa bubbles lol! Moon, on the other hand, loves my coffee! Bad girl!

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

Why is she doing this? IDK, but it's not good for her for sure.

Does she have minerals available to her at all times?

I don't like loose minerals (it gets crusty in our humidity and then they don't eat it, or at least the last batch of goats I had wouldn't) so I use the Manna Pro Goat Balancer, which is the same thing but in pellet form and I put it in with their grain daily. She's right on the cusp of 50 lbs so I might go up to the next dose. Thanks for that idea.

I guess I'll just have to limit her time outside her pen when I'm disinfecting. She's like a Hoover in every other sense, too, I can't have her around my tomato plants or she'll strip them of their fruit.

 

[Godsgrl]

Goats are funny. When I was a child, my aunt and uncle had a goat that loved paint. If you left a can of paint unattended for a second that goat was muzzle deep in it. Did I mention my aunt and uncle were building a house, and painting it? That goat drove them about crazy. Fun memories.

 

[Moonshine]

I use the Manna Pro Goat Balancer, which is the same thing but in pellet form

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. When you said that, I thought "oh nice! An alternative"! But I looked it up and the Balancer has significantly less minerals compared to the Manna Pro Goat Minerals. For example copper is only 150ppm in Balancer and MPGMs has 1350ppm. I found it to be that way for all of the minerals the Balancer has in it. Might be why your girls are acting funny or feel like they are missing something.

 

[elevan]

I use the Manna Pro Goat Balancer, which is the same thing but in pellet form

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. When you said that, I thought "oh nice! An alternative"! But I looked it up and the Balancer has significantly less minerals compared to the Manna Pro Goat Minerals. For example copper is only 150ppm in Balancer and MPGMs has 1350ppm. I found it to be that way for all of the minerals the Balancer has in it. Might be why your girls are acting funny or feel like they are missing something.

x2 on that. You may want to try a mineral / protein block and see how they do...I'd bet that they devour it quickly.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

I use the Manna Pro Goat Balancer, which is the same thing but in pellet form

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. When you said that, I thought "oh nice! An alternative"! But I looked it up and the Balancer has significantly less minerals compared to the Manna Pro Goat Minerals. For example copper is only 150ppm in Balancer and MPGMs has 1350ppm. I found it to be that way for all of the minerals the Balancer has in it. Might be why your girls are acting funny or feel like they are missing something.

Please, disagree with me! That's why I'm here, for another opinion.

I was thinking the Balancer was the same because you use 3x as much as a top dressing (and the label is not exactly clear as to what a serving is! And that makes it really hard to compare), but upon closer inspection, you are correct they are not equivalent - the minerals offer more ingredients. I purchased a bag of the mineral and will attempt to use that from now on.

I also purchased a block per elevan's suggestion - I first purchased a "Billy Block" in Berry Bush flavor sick) but when the guy was loading up my car at the dock with chicken food, he saw it and said that they had a large block called SweetLix (also one called MeatMaker) in the storage room and suggested I purchase the SweetLix. I did. The Billy Block was only 4$ so I didn't return it.

So my question to you guys is...
Put the SweetLix block out now and then offer free minerals when the block is done? Where do you put it? One of my goats is a really picky eater and won't eat anything on the ground or that's been touched by hooves.

 

[Chevoner]

Perhaps the Balancer is just that? To balance and supplement the minerals available to the animals, is this correct?

There are 'block holders' available that will serve your purposes to elevate and prevent soiling (perhaps post mounted?). I found this site; I'm sure there are other alternatives as well.

http://www.southernstates.com/catalog/c-1669-mineral-feeders.aspx

For an easier, cheaper DIY method you could take a long masonry drill bit, bore a hole in the center of the block, then used nylon rope or cord to hang it from a fence post. Nylon because the salt rusts wire and cotton/sisal/hemp may rot too fast.