We have a community well and there is a problem with the water right now so we started water service again because we don't have the time and space resources to boil all the water we consume. I am super happy with it because I hate our water. And everyone but the goats seems to be happy with the fact that they have water. Pre -microbiological problem the goats drank at or near 5 gallons a day. I am guessing the change in water is what is causing them not to drink, but they are not drinking anywhere close to enough. If I go out at 9 before I leave for work to give them new water, and then go out at dusk around 8:30 maybe 1/3 of the water is gone. So I put some loose salt out with their minerals, and it does seem to have helped slightly but they still are not drinking what they were, and our temps are in the upper 90's and heat indexes over 100. We still have no idea when they will fix the problem. I would not be so worried about it except that it is summer, and were we to have a hurricane we would likely have at least 2 weeks of nothing but bottled water as it has been known to be undrinkable or even unavailable at those times, and we have been collecting and rotating 300 gallons in reserve for such an emergency, so I am also concerned about what will happen the next time they have to drink this water too. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can get them drinking more?
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We used to put mint leaves in our horses water when we went to shows because they often did not want to drink the unfamiliar water. I don't know if that would work with goats or not.
Could it be the chlorine in the public water supply that they are not used to? It takes 24 hours for it to completely dissipate from the water. If you change their water every morning, the chlorine would be in it all day.......just a thought.