Transporting Goats in Truck-Hot Weather

[Kat]

Hello, been lurking for a while on this forum.  I am a new pack goat owner and pretty new to goats (have horse experience.)  For goat transport to trailheads, am thinking about getting a 4x4 truck with 6.5' bed (ex: Toyota Tundra) and would install a tall canopy on it to transport my 2 goats. 

However, I do have a concern about longer trips in the 3-5 hour range to reach a trailhead on rough forest service roads during the heat of summer say 90-100F days. Even with canopy window sliders open not sure how good the ventilation will be inside a canopy - particularly if it is a dark color. I know how I feel without A/C on those days!
 
Am currently transporting them with my 2 horse trailer and Suburban but that's not going to work well for a lot of the rougher access trailheads we frequent for hiking.  They jump into our small 2wd truck with canopy just fine so that part is done  altho we haven't tried a test drive yet! 

The goats: 2 yr old Saanen/Alpine ~ 250 lbs and a 6 yr old Ober ~ 215 lbs - both no horns.

Comments?  Helpful hints?

Thanks for any insight!

[Nanno]

Hello and welcome! Can you paint your camper shell white? I've noticed with horse trailers that the color makes an enormous difference to the inside temperature. You could install a couple of vents in the roof that would draw air down through them. They make them for horse trailers (mine has them). I'm also wondering if there's anything you could do with ice blocks that wouldn't be too messy.

We had to take our goats through Utah when it was 105 degrees a couple of summers ago. It was so hot we ended up stopping and letting the goats out of the trailer to stroll around in the shade and get a drink. We set out again later on when the day had cooled down a bit. That's something else you can always do is plan most of your driving for morning or late afternoon/evening and plan rest stops during the heat of the day.

[Kat]

Thank you, and great suggestions - our current horse trailer is white with those roof vents and we have hauled the horses in hot weather and they seemed fine.  Not sure I've seen the vents in a camper shell but I will use my google-fu to check out the possibility!

Would definitely be making a stop on a long trip like that and have done so already with the goats last month - walked them in the pet area of a freeway rest stop - did not get any stares which surprised me a bit!

My dream vehicle would be a 4x4 van with A/C for both us and the goats but the other half says no 

[Nanno]

I've never seen vents in a camper shell either, but it looks like it would be pretty trivial to install some.

Your husband may be right about the 4x4 van. That puppy would STINKl! I'm sure Charlie Horse could tell you all about it. He hauls his crew in a Suburban (or used to).

[Kat]

I've never seen vents in a camper shell either, but it looks like it would be pretty trivial to install some.

Your husband may be right about the 4x4 van. That puppy would STINKl! I'm sure Charlie Horse could tell you all about it. He hauls his crew in a Suburban (or used to).

hehe... I did think of using our Burb too. But a cargo van wouldn't be too bad, I like goat smell!  Well, as long as you lined it with a tarp so the pee wouldn't get permanently deposited in uncleanable spots... I'll give you that!

I did find several ideas on vents for a camper shell, that idea looks very feasible as you said. They even have 12volt fan vents for RV's that some folks have used, go figure.

[ase90]

I've never seen vents in a camper shell either, but it looks like it would be pretty trivial to install some.

Your husband may be right about the 4x4 van. That puppy would STINKl! I'm sure Charlie Horse could tell you all about it. He hauls his crew in a Suburban (or used to).

hehe... I did think of using our Burb too. But a cargo van wouldn't be too bad, I like goat smell!  Well, as long as you lined it with a tarp so the pee wouldn't get permanently deposited in uncleanable spots... I'll give you that!

I did find several ideas on vents for a camper shell, that idea looks very feasible as you said. They even have 12volt fan vents for RV's that some folks have used, go figure.

I have a Ram 1500 with a central window in the back of the cab. The central portion of it opens electrically. The topper I have has a central window in the front that aligns with the window opening in the back of the cab. I have a inflatable donut that seals the gap between the cab and topper that was made for that purpose and was sold to me by the company that put on the topper. It is a high-top topper. I place a fan between the cab and topper to blow air-conditioned air into the topper.  I originally put together the white truck and white topper to keep my field trial dogs comfortable during long trips to hot places like Texas and it has worked wonderfully for that purpose. It also worked well to bring three goats home from Dwite's a couple of weeks ago. The topper also has side opening windows, each of which has a screen covered slider in the middle that can be opened. I don't run on the highway with the slides open since it isn't necessary. The positive airflow from cab to topper keeps goat smell out of the cab and I place a remote reading thermometer in the topper with the readout in the cab. It was a $12 purchase at Menards and has worked perfectly for several years. My goats are young and I put them in the topper in a large fan supplied crate in back, but you could goat proof the whole topper as I've seen others do. I am going to get a trailer for mine eventually because I still use the topper setup I have would work great for goats without the dog and gun systems, both of which have sliding trays on top of them.

[Kat]

 The topper I have has a central window in the front that aligns with the window opening in the back of the cab.

This is what I ended up doing, altho I did not get the seal.  I made a piece of cardboard to fit both openings and it works OK until Ranger decides to stick his head into the cab knocking the cardboard out 

I ended up with a big Leer 122 canopy on a Tundra - full length slider windows with screens on the sides (not the double window that is normally seen on these.)  It works great along with the back window open for ventilation so I ended up not doing a vent on the top.  

The one long trip we took on a very hot afternoon (close to 100F), I added 2 clip-on fans from Home Depot inside the canopy, and 2 garbage bags full of ice near the tailgate. Stayed pretty cool in there for them.  

Overall I am pleased with this setup - gets me and the 2 goats to the trailheads with plenty of ventilation. 

The bed is rhino-lined, I added a rubber mat, then also a closed cell foam mat over the back half for their comfort.  A bit of straw and they're good to go.

[blackie's maiden]

From Texas...heat hauling a real problem here.

We inherited a "backseat air conditioner hose" when we bought our truck camper. Already everything you need. Look them up. They have a ring generally that hooks right into one of your a.c. exhaust vents inside your truck. The hose can then vent the cool air thru your back window into any container in the pick up bed for your goats.

If you are into constructing things yourself, I would recommend wood painted white instead of metal. Yes, more maintenance. But wood insulates to some.degree.while.metal conducts heat.

We built a goat carrier on top of one of.those little landscape flatbed trailers like.Home Depot sells. Wood, painted white, with small 3" round holes.all along top and bottom. Taken from suggestions on venting greenhouses, that is, equal or almost equal venting top and bottom, the thing stays amazingly 15-20 degrees.cooler than the outside temperature.  It sure doesn't look like it would, as it is far less.venting than a standard livestock trailer but it does. Also this way goats.are.still protected.from most road debri that becomes airborne and might penetrate the large slats in a standard livestock trailer. Since the Rendy we finished it with 14" storage.space on top and.replacing the too small 12" tires and fenders with 14", safer and smoother for longer trips. The second top also helps insulate.

Needless to say we still check on them every time we stop to make sure they still have water and are not panting. Never have panted.

Before we came up with our.current trailerwe would buy a 20 lb bag of ice.and.throw in with Blackie for him to lay on. Makes a big difference but would only work on short trips and close monitoring.

I will try to post some pics of our rig we built probably tomorrow.

[Kat]

Thanks for the post, I will definitely look up that "backseat a/c hose."  We did OK last week coming back thru 100F heat, bought a bag of ice for the rear again - I put it in a garbage bag and tie it to the tiedown near the tailgate. That and the windows open seem to do an OK job back there - the white, insulated Leer canopy does stay cooler than outside.  I'd forgotten my little battery fans.

We did stop at a state park to give them a rest and dinner in the shade also - stopped first at a non-shaded rest area holee cow it was hot, jumped back in the truck and kept driving!

Looking forward to seeing your vented goat carrier.

[blackie's maiden]

   
Hope this works...pics.show.air holes. Back is.actually 2 doors, a solid and.heavy 2x4 livestock panel. We didn't put holes in solid.door.to protect the generator from rain that we occasionally carry with us. Otherwise it would have holes.too.