Goats’ ruminant stomachs provide every opportunity for disaster. These four-compartment stomachs are always causing lots of problems and making goats sick. If a goat were to eat the wrong thing it very well could die.
Drinking vinegar will not cause goats to die, however, goats are prone to drowning if they are forced to drink something fast. Vinegar is used in many countries to slaughter goats by drowning them. Goats will avoid anything wet to avoid potential drowning.
As curiosity rises and you want to know what the other reasons are, and why vinegar is used to slaughter goats instead of water don’t hesitate to continue reading.
Why Use Vinegar?
Vinegar is used to drown goats because its acidic nature burns their lungs. This prevents them from breathing even if they expel the vinegar from their lungs. The good news about doing this is that it kills the goats completely within minutes. It’s no different from suffocating your goat before the slaughter.
This is far more humane than killing the goat with fresh water. Freshwater basically causes your lungs to explode. This is very unpleasant and can actually go on for hours. Even if a goat were to expel the water from its lungs it still wouldn’t be able to breathe enough. So this would be much slower asphyxiation. It’s about as humane as using saltwater.
Now, why use vinegar in the first place? Why no use a gun, or knife, or snap their neck?
Well, the old-school way is actually to smash the head with a hammer. This kills the goat instantly but can cause quite a mess. Not everywhere developed this method though. Judaism and Islam have been using a way that is painless for centuries.
You have to animal stay standing, then slit its throat with a sharp blade. Done right the animal will have no idea that their neck has just been slit. It will bleed out relatively fast. In a couple of minutes, it will start to act tired and lie down. Then after that, it will die. Not everyone likes to do this though because it is extremely personal and takes a lot of time.
Modern countries like to use guns. A well-placed bullet in the head will kill the animal instantly and painlessly. This is often the favored method of small (and sometimes large) meat ranchers. This is because it is fast and cheap. As not everywhere has access to cheap ammunition though not every country can do this.
As for snapping the neck, well that’s all fine if you can actually snap the neck in its entirety the first time. Done wrong this is excruciatingly painful and leaves the animal suffering for a long time. Snapping the necks of small animals, like birds and rabbits, is fairly easy. By the time the animals get to the size of a goat though, there is a good chance that you won’t do it right.
This is why the practice of drowning goats has a certain niche. It’s cheap, easy, fast, and doesn’t let the animal suffer unnecessarily. It’s among the rougher ways to humanly go, but it is fast enough to be considered humane in a number of countries. And in some countries, it’s just a necessity.
So vinegar is used to drown goats when there are no other good options. It is a last resort.
Why Goats Avoid Water
Goats avoid water because water means unsure footing. Goats are climbing animals that require sure footing and water is slippery.
Goats also breathe through the same hole that allows for the swallowing of food and water. Much like humans, there is a space at the back of their throat where air and substance can meet if you try to breathe and swallow at the same time.
Because goats have this double trouble with water they hate it. They drink it only because they have to in order to survive. This is why drowning goats is so simple. They panic easily around liquids. This makes them breathe erratically and greatly increases the chance of getting liquid in their lungs.
Feeding Goats Vinegar
A word of caution. Goats naturally produce bicarbonate (baking soda). So by giving them vinegar you are actually causing them to experience a baking soda volcano inside themselves. This is no problem so long as you don’t give them too much vinegar at one time.
Okay, so we’ve gone over why vinegar is used to kill goats. Let’s talk about all the good that vinegar can do for goats now.
Goats love apple cider vinegar. They will drink it with gusto if you let them. They will eat anything with apple cider vinegar. They just want the apple cider vinegar.
If your goats are not drinking enough water then add a little bit of apple cider vinegar to it. About one tablespoon per gallon of water is more than enough to get those goats drinking enough to cure any worries you may have about hydration.
It also helps keep water fresher for longer. Since goats are very picky with what water they will drink this is another bonus to putting apple cider vinegar in your goat’s water.
You can also spray weeds with apple cider vinegar in an effort to kill them by using the vinegar as a weedkiller. The goats will also attack any plant covered in apple cider vinegar with a furiousness that would put an angry mother bear to shame. Goats also have a high tolerance for most poisonous plants. You should still check to see if the plant you are trying to kill will harm a goat before you let your goat eat it.
They will even clear out poison ivy from an area without any side effects.
Apple cider vinegar is thought to have positive effects on a goat’s body. There isn’t any scientific evidence to support this, but there are a number of anecdotes that claim this. So, whether it’s true or not is up for debate, but you can always give it a try.
These benefits include an increased immune system response, better digestion, limited reproduction control (people say that it will increase the likelihood of having female kids), increased milk production, better coats, and decreased urinary tract problems.
Remember that there isn’t any science to back this up, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
So remember, feeding your goats vinegar won’t kill them, but using vinegar to kill your goats on purpose is effective. Just don’t give them too much accidentally.