Eating straw bedding

[trase]

Our little girls (Togg/Alpine and Togg/LaMancha mixes) are 9 and 10 weeks old. They self-weaned over the past week or so - just not interested in the bottle any longer, because they are filling up on grain ration and alfalfa hay. They are drinking water really well, too. Yay!

We are in the process of adding additional space for them in the barn. Our barn came with a horse stall the previous owners used, and that's been home base for them thus far. But a few days ago, we built a half-wall with a gate opening dividing that section of the barn in two, so they have more space and can get to the back door to go into their fenced pen off the barn as they please. We are still getting everything in place, and so I haven't spread the straw out everywhere yet, it's still on a pallet in bales. (They've had straw in their pen all along for bedding.) When they come out into the larger area, they immediately go after the straw bales and start snacking on them. I have the bales of hay a few feet away, and they will sometimes snack out of those, too, but they seem to have a preference for the straw.

Is this odd? They eat the alfalfa hay out of their wall feeder really well in the pen, so I know they like it. I just find it strange that they are going after the straw, as it seems like it has little, if any, nutritional value. Is this like Doritos or Cheetos to human kids - junk food?

Thanks!

 

[cmjust0]

Is this odd?

Nope. Just goats being goats.

As to why they would attack something with no nutritional value, I dunno. They do, though, if it's clean straw.. I've actually heard of cattle farmers intentionally feeding straw and providing protein tubs for the core nutrition.. The straw is just intended to keep the rumen going.

Rest assured that eating straw won't hurt them or anything like that.. Whenever we throw new straw down in a stall, the goats always manage to get in and chow down on it.....until it gets trampled, at which point they ignore it again.

 

[trase]

I figured it might just be like junk food to them, but I wondered if it was a cause for concern. Thank you for the reassurance, cmjust0! Appreciate it!