# Do goats sweat?



## mpete (Mar 4, 2008)

I have been on many hikes/parades and have noticed that they seem to not sweat... ?????


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

No, they pant. Like dogs, cats, rabbits and cattle. Horses sweat, but you never see them pant.


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## coso (Feb 24, 2004)

The only animal I know of off the top of my head that does not sweat is pigs, they don't have sweat glands. Cattle, goats, horses can all sweat, because they do , but will pant first to cool down.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

You ought to see my buck working the does right now....He's panting. 93 degrees and in rut....Livestock knows best....Topside


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Guess I've just never seen one sweat. Pant till they have drool puddles under them, never sweat.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

According to wikipedia, "Although sweating is found in a wide variety of mammals,[4][5] relatively few, such as humans and horses, produce large amounts of sweat in order to cool down." 
Which is why it is not noticable.


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## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

My Nubian sweats when shes hot but I haven't seen any of the others doing it. When she sweats she's so wet she drips.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

No sweaters here, if they did flys would be all over them...Ever seen dogs with flys all over them...they don't sweat.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I've seen cattle wet with I guess sweat, that's why cattle have flys on them all of the summer...goats don't


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

My buck is working three does at once, no sweat....maybe he's special, well the girls sure think so.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I've never noticed a cow sweat, and our cows always have flies on them. I do not think its the sweat that attracts them, its the fact that cows are simply more dirty than goats. Cows lay down in manure and muck if it gets real hot, trying to cool. Goats do not.


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## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

No flies on my goats but they get sprayed with Bronco spray.


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## KimM (Jun 17, 2005)

topside1 said:


> I've seen cattle wet with I guess sweat, that's why cattle have flys on them all of the summer...goats don't


Flies are attracted to the saliva cattle sling over their backs when they attempt to **** the flies away but I'm pretty sure cattle sweat a little too.

I didn't think goats had the ability to sweat so I started looking and according to the Merck Veterinary Manual - 
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/70100.htm
_"Sweat glands (epitrichial [formerly apocrine] and atrichial [formerly eccrine]) are part of the thermoregulatory system. The evaporation of sweat from the skin is the primary cooling mechanism of the body for horses and primates and, to a lesser degree, pigs, sheep, and goats. There is some clinical evidence to suggest that limited sweating occurs in dogs and cats, and that it may have a minor role in cooling of the body. Dogs and cats thermoregulate primarily via panting, drooling, and spreading saliva on their coats (cats). However, cats will sweat through their paws especially when excited; this is most commonly seen as wet paw prints on surfaces, eg, examination tables."_

I do remember feeling a slight dampness to my goats' coats when it's hot now that I think about it.


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

They do cool off though their horns just as elephants do their ears.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I do notice on really hot or humid day's that when I pet my goats they just have a slight dampness to there coats also, like Kim said. I just always figured it was sweat becuase it's hot.
I also spray them for flies & mosquito's so not such a problem with that. I've never seen the sweat dripping off them, just dampness.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Thanks Kim, the school of goatology strikes again...Enjoy your weekend...Topside


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

ozark_jewels said:


> Horses sweat, but you never see them pant.


Yes, horses can't breath through their mouths, only their noses. Another interesting bit of trivia.


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## KimM (Jun 17, 2005)

topside1 said:


> Thanks Kim, the school of goatology strikes again...Enjoy your weekend...Topside


You're welcome. I'm still just a *fresh*man though. :hysterical:
You have a nice week!


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Yes, after drinking a lot of beer!


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I just think its amazing that goats and cows sweat at all. I mean, we have been upper nineties to the 100s in temps with extremely high humidity, for over a month now. It barely cools below 80 most nights. Its been really hard on the dairy cows, the flesh melts off them and they stand panting in the shade with drool pools under their mouths, yet I've never seen them sweat. Same for the goats, no signs of sweat at all, ever. So, it must take true extremes to push them to sweat!
Me on the other hand, I sweat like a sprinkler system!!:sob:


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Ah Emily, just think of it as keeping your body nice and clean with all those toxins pouring out ha! Nothing like milking a hot goat in a hot barn in the middle of July!


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## edmonds (Dec 19, 2008)

steff bugielski said:


> They do cool off though their horns just as elephants do their ears.


Their horns act as radiators to dissipate body heat, at least until the ambient temperature gets above their body temperature. That's why you don't remove horns from cashmere or angora goats.


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

My goats also feel "damp" on hot, humid days. Our yearling calves sweat really bad in the evening on these 90-100 days. It's beading on their short coats.

My mule hardly ever sweats - only during extreme exertion (running a long time when the temp is way up there).

My kitten sweats thru his foot pads - only cat/kitten I've ever noticed. His little feet have been quite damp during this weather.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Some are very heat tolerant. My LaManchas will sunbathe in the Texas heat of summer. They will be out there in the middle of the afternoon, stretched out like they are working on a tan like a teen at a swimming pool. They are not sweating or panting. Just sunbathing in the 100 degree heat. Gotta respect their toughness...or just call them crazy!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

southerngurl said:


> Ah Emily, just think of it as keeping your body nice and clean with all those toxins pouring out ha! Nothing like milking a hot goat in a hot barn in the middle of July!


Yeah, right. 

We butchered the wether this morning, the last kid still on my one and only milking doe. Since the kid wasn't on her through the day, it was time to start evening milkings again.

I don't think it was this hot last Summer. I would have remembered sweat running off my arms and trying to keep it from dripping into the milk bucket...


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## mpete (Mar 4, 2008)

Thanks guys! This was interesting to read. Its just funny how I can go on some pretty hard hikes, and they wont appear to sweat. I have seen them panting a lot, but I guess I am just used to seeing a horse "foaming up".


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

I bought a buckling from a couple of states west of me some years back. When he got out of the plastic dog crate? He was soaking wet from sweat (evidently). He had had a 4-6 hour ride in a plastic dog crate to get to me. I've never seen one before or since that one wet like that - I'm sure it wasn't from being hosed down...


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

southerngurl said:


> Ah Emily, just think of it as keeping your body nice and clean with all those toxins pouring out ha!


Yep, this is what I tell some of my family who do not sweat.:cowboy:


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Pony said:


> I don't think it was this hot last Summer. I would have remembered sweat running off my arms and trying to keep it from dripping into the milk bucket...


Congrats on getting the wether done!
It was only this hot for one week last year. At least for us, last summer was mostly a very cool one. This summer has been a whole different story!


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Pony said:


> Yeah, right.
> 
> We butchered the wether this morning, the last kid still on my one and only milking doe. Since the kid wasn't on her through the day, it was time to start evening milkings again.
> 
> I don't think it was this hot last Summer. I would have remembered sweat running off my arms and trying to keep it from dripping into the milk bucket...




According to our weather man, this is one of the hottest summers on record so far they say.
Last 2 summers were very cool here, not good for the gardens at all, better for me & all the livestock though.


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## mpete (Mar 4, 2008)

So I took my boys on a "hot hike" yesterday (cutting a new trail to the lake), it was about 101, not bad humidity..... THEY WERE DAMP!!!!!
I had to pay close attention to it, but while we were hiking up the steepest part of the hill, they began to pant, and I reached out to pat them and tell them good boy and noticed they were a touch damp....  So now I have seen them sweat! lol
(still didn't get the trail to the lake all the way cut though)


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