Keeping our goats happy, healthy and hydrated - what a challenge this has turned out to be! Weary of thawing frozen water bowls and running endless gallons from the tap every few hours to satisfy Em and Ellie's penchant for only warm water (and not wanting a repeat of the urinary issues), I decided to investigate the options for heated water systems. A query at the local feed store first led me to a gigantic electric bucket large enough to use as a bathtub for both goats at a cost worthy of a monthly payment plan. Momentarily I wondered if this might double as an economic alternative to the hot tub my husband has been wanting...what's more relaxing than a soak in the goat shed with two hairy beasts staring you down? No, they'd likely eat our clean towels and we'd have to dry off with the old rags I store in the shed for clean-up...
"Don't you have something, well, smaller?" I asked (really meaning cheaper but not wanting to sound, well, cheap...)
And that's how we came to be proud owners of the heated dog bowl. Only two problems. First, while your average canine might not chew an electric cord loosely-wrapped in a thin wire, I was sure the goats could gnaw through that in an afternoon. (They would see it as a challenge!) Second, I knew the attached six-foot cord was nowhere long enough to reach our electrical outlet. My husband takes construction very seriously, and when he was wiring the goat shed with electric and I reminded him not to put the outlet where the goats could reach it, he was either imagining we had supersonic leaping goats or else was thinking of the awesome "Goats in Trees" calendar I am so coveting (but still hoping for a clearance sale) - and so he installed the outlet some eight feet up in the ceiling. On tiptoe I can barely reach it - so unless the bowl could levitate mid-air without spilling - Houston, we have a problem.
Now the clever engineering solution - build a platform from scrap wood to raise and contain the bowl, then scrounge around the garage for something to protect the cord - an old metal dryer hose works great! (Try chewing on that, goats!) Perfect.
Problem three. The goats hate it. When buying agricultural equipment, always read the fine print. Turns out the bowl does not deliver warm water, merely water just above freezing (presumably to conserve electricity). Water at forty degrees might be cool and refeshing on a hot summer day - however it is completely unacceptable to goats (my spoiled goats, at least). Beyond one tentative, curious taste when it was first installed, I have yet to see a goat sip from it. They stand morose at their little ceramic bowl in the driveway, waiting for a kind-hearted human with a steaming jug.
Emily said, "Mom, we should have just tried a crock pot with an extension cord." Yeah, if only we could teach the goat boys how to put the lid back on...
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