How Much Water Does A Goat Drink Per Day? (Answered!)

 

In the past, I’ve never much had to worry about making sure my goats have plenty of water.

Our homestead had a pretty large stream at the back, so they had a constant supply of fresh, readily available water to drink.

I’ve always checked it to make sure it was clean and safe, but I’ve never had a problem with it.

As long as you can provide around 10 litres a day for every goat on your pasture, you’ll have no problem.

As I say, if you have particularly large or particularly small goats, then you’ll need to give them slightly more or slightly less.

Let’s look further into this.

 

How much water should goats drink per day?

Firstly, the average, as I said, is about 10 liters, or 2 to 3 gallons a day.

This is for a typical, full-grown goat, that isn’t lactating or pregnant.

On average, this is around how much they will need.

The best thing to do, from your point of view, is to provide a little more than this each day, per goat.

They may not always drink all of it, but it’s much better that they should have more than they need, rather than less.

If your goats are grazing lush green grass, they may well get away with only around half a gallon per day.

The moisture content from the grass will do them a lot of good—however, you should still always provide plenty of fresh water, even on the lushest pasture.

Keep in mind, though, the variation in size between goat breeds.

Some are much, much larger than others, and naturally require a deal more water.

Finally, lactating does will need an additional couple of liters per day.

If you have a milking or pregnant doe, then you should try to provide them with water of their own.

Bottom line: 3 gallons for a full-grown average goat, up to 3.5 for a milking doe.

 

How long can goats go without water?

This will, again, depend on a couple of factors.

Goats, in the wild, do often live in extremely arid and dry areas, where they may need to go a few days, comfortably, without water.

However, they can’t really survive for much longer than we can.

Without water for 3 days, your goat will probably die of hydration.

It may well die far sooner than that, depending on the climate.

However, as I said, if they have access to a very lush green pasture, they could probably get by on the hydration from that for quite a while.

Obviously, though, you should provide your goats fresh water every day regardless.

Your goat’s health will suffer it doesn’t have access to water, even if it is hydrated.

But in any case, your goat can’t go much longer than you without water.

They aren’t adapted to be able to live without it for long periods.

 

How can you tell if a goat is dehydrated?

There will be many signs that your goat is dehydrated.

See if they are showing signs of general weakness.

Walking without much speed or purpose, appearing depressed.

Notice if they have a sudden and dramatic change in weight.

A lot of the body’s weight is bound up in its water, so if your goat is dehydrated, it will begin losing weight rapidly.

The eyes may change, too, appearing glazed and losing pigment.

Examine your goat’s eyes for any irregularity if you think it may be dehydrated.

You can test it by taking a fold of the skin along the back, gently pinch it upwards and see how it settles back down.

If your goat is dehydrated, the skin will take much longer to settle back down.

 

What do I do if my goat won’t drink water?

It is usually as simple as the fact that the goats do not like the water you’re giving them.

Though we might shy away from it, the natural water of springs or streams is often the cleanest and freshest you can find, so the goats will expect clean, fresh water every day.

Make sure you empty and refill their water trough every day—no exceptions.

Clean it regularly, too.

This is usually most of the reason why goats aren’t drinking their water.

Certainly, if it is a mass refusal by all your goats then this is most likely the reason.

If an individual seems not to want to drink despite your best efforts, you may want to get them seen by a vet.

There may be something more going on.

 

It’s not necessarily as cut and dry as you might like it to be, then.

Regardless, though, all you ever need to do is provide them with the upper limit on how much water they will drink.

Yes, they won’t always drink it, and you’ll need to replace it with fresh water, but this is much simpler than trying to tailor to their exact needs minute to minute.

2 to 3 gallons a day and they will be fine.

 

More in Drinks

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• Can Goats Drink Tea?
• Can Goats Drink Their Own Milk?
• How Much Water Does A Goat Drink Per Day?
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