Goat Feeding Questions

[ArtisticFarmer]

I've got a couple questions on feeding my goats - I am wanting to get 2 does, either Alpine, LaMancha, or Nubians.

Hay - I am planning on getting good-quality alfalfa hay. How much would 2 goats go through in a year/month/bale.

Grain - Is this a must do? I can get a 50 pound bag of either Noble Goat or DuMor feed for around $15. How long would this last? And the Noble Goat (from purina) says it is medicated. What does this mean?

Minerals - I found a Billy Block supplement. It is four pounds. How long will it last?


Is there anything I'm missing for my goats diet? Thank you in advance for you answers! I really appreciate it.

 

[SheepGirl]

I've got a couple questions on feeding my goats - I am wanting to get 2 does, either Alpine, LaMancha, or Nubians.

Hay - I am planning on getting good-quality alfalfa hay. How much would 2 goats go through in a year/month/bale.

Grain - Is this a must do? I can get a 50 pound bag of either Noble Goat or DuMor feed for around $15. How long would this last? And the Noble Goat (from purina) says it is medicated. What does this mean?

Minerals - I found a Billy Block supplement. It is four pounds. How long will it last?


Is there anything I'm missing for my goats diet? Thank you in advance for you answers! I really appreciate it.

Goats in maintenance (not growing, breeding, pregnant, or lactating) will need 3% of their body weight in dry matter each day. A productive goat (growing, breeding, pregnant, or lactating) will require more feed--this is usually when you supplement with grain; it is unnecessary & a waste of money to feed a maintenance goat grain.

If your goat weighs 130 lbs, it will need 3.9 lbs of DM each day. (130 x 3% = 3.9). Hay varies in moisture content, but it is usually 10-20% moisture, which means it is 80-90% DM. So to figure out how much hay (let's just say it's 85% DM) you need to feed to meet the 3.9 lb DM requirement, you do 3.9 / 85% = 4.6 lbs of hay required. This does not include waste. Waste is usually about 10%. So 4.6 lbs x 110% = 5 lbs. So you would need to put out 5 lbs of hay each day to meet your goats DM requirement while factoring in waste. Usually this much hay does meet their other nutritional requirements, but it's always a good idea to put out a mineral for them.

However, loose minerals are recommended over block minerals. Even if they have the same nutritional composition. Animals are able to more readily consume the loose mineral and won't risk breaking a tooth trying to break chunks off/scraping the mineral to get their needs met. At Southern States, I can buy my 50 lb bag of mineral for about $20. They each consume about 1/2 oz of the mineral a day, and if you do the math (50 lbs x 16 oz/lb = 800 oz / 2 = 1600 'servings' = lasts my 9 sheep about 6 months.) It is harder to determine how much mineral animals consume when they have a block.

And as for grain--you only need to feed it when your animals are being productive. With my sheep, I give the ewes 0.5 lb/hd/day 17 days pre breeding and 17 days into the breeding season for flushing. This tricks their body into thinking they are getting more nutrition and so they release more eggs when they ovulate and it gives them a better chance of having multiples. This really only works on thin ewes. This past year I had two ewes I flushed have a single and a set of triplets. So it could go either way lol. My ewes are then off grain but then 30 days pre-lambing they are started back on grain, 0.5 lb/hd/day. The majority (70%) of the fetal growth occurs during the last 4-6 weeks and there is simply not enough room in the small ruminant's stomach to eat enough forage to meet their needs, especially when there are 1-3 babies in there, too. Skin can only stretch so far! So this is where grain comes in. It is nutrient dense, and doesn't take up much room compared to the amount of grass/hay that gives the same nutrition. Then when my sheep lamb, they are given 0.5 to 1 lb of grain per lamb they are nursing per day, split into 1-2 feedings (if they need more than 1 lb of grain, I will split it into two feedings, otherwise they get their grain just once a day). They get this for about 60 days, but the last two weeks of lactation they are weaned off of it, so they aren't getting any grain when the lambs are weaned at 60 days old. And lambs usually get 1% of their body weight in grain each day. Usually meat goat producers feed roughly the same amount of grain as sheep producers; dairy goats probably get more grain during lactation since they are producing more milk than just the amount needed to feed their kids.

Those grain amounts are in addition to the maintenance requirements of hay/pasture.

 

[Catahoula]

The medicated one has cocci prevention meds in it. If you have does in milk but are NOT drinking the milk, you can use medicated feeds.

 

[AshleyFishy]

I would do good grass hay with your alfalfa. Noble goat is medicated for coccidiosis. I would do goat chow if you can get it. Manna pro loose mineral is good to start off with. The billy block wont give them enough of what they need.

Honestly on how much hay to feed that will vary. It will depend on age breed if in milk and so on. I found my goats do better on grass hay with alfalfa Timothy pellets offered. Goats waste a lot of hay!

Also stock up on some basic supplies, medications and wormers. Like blukote, mite dust, hoof shears, fast digital thermometer, larger syringes, some probiotics, baking soda and at least some goat safe guard or sheep ivermectin.

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Would putting a flake or two in a hay rack work too? Or would they eat to much?

 

[SheepGirl]

Would putting a flake or two in a hay rack work too? Or would they eat to much?

Each flake of hay usually weighs 2.5-4 lbs, depends on size of the bale and the number of flakes in a bale. Weigh the flakes and then put how many you need. Underfeeding gives you skinny animals; over feeding is a waste of money and your animals get fat.

 

[elevan]

Long stemmed foodstuff - Hay or Daily Browse should be made available free choice (all the time) to your goats. Long stemmed foodstuff is required by goats stomach in order for it to have a properly functioning rumen. In addition to providing needed fiber, hay / browse provides needed vitamins and minerals for the goats. Two-thirds of the goats diet should be roughage. Goats will eat an average of 2.25 pounds of hay or browse a day per 50 pounds of their body weight while eating an average of 12 hours per day.

Water - Good, clean, and fresh water is essential for goats and all living things on this planet. Water makes up a large percentage of a goats soft tissue. It is also a very high percentage of goats milk. Water needs to be replenished by the goats body daily. As you can imagine if youre milking a goat, youre removing a large chunk of their water reserve.

Minerals & Vitamins - Chose a good goat specific mineral if it is available in your area. Goats need copper while for sheep it can be toxic, so dont plan on purchasing a sheep mineral or youll end up with copper deficient goats unless youre able (and confident enough) to mix copper sulphate into the mix. There are several options for purchasing minerals online if your feed store doesnt carry them. If shipping costs are too much then go with a cattle or deer mineral locally unless you have the ability and interest to mix your own mineral from scratch.

Concentrate / Grain / Pellets Let me start by explaining the differences between those three for you. Concentrate is feed, vitamins and minerals ground down and mixed with (usually) molasses and extruded into pellet form. If you feed concentrate you generally dont need to feed any other type of foodstuff (including hay). Grain refers to whole grains in their recognizable form such as corn, oats, barley or wheat (and others). Grain can be whole, ground, cracked or rolled and still be considered whole grains. Pellets refer to single or multiple food stuff (including hay) that has been ground down and extruded into pellet form with no added vitamins or minerals. Goats do not need concentrates, grains or pellets as a general rule. There is, however, a time and a place for them.

(Excerpts from "Goat Notes") More information can be found in my eBook, Goat Notes

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Here is a feeding discussion on the forum that shows what different members here feed, when and why: http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11677

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Thank you elevan! I am thinking about getting your book.


I am wanting to get a Nigerian Dwarf - since they are smaller, I am assuming they eat less?

 

[SheepGirl]

Yes, they are smaller so they will eat less. However the amount they eat will still be proportionate to larger goats (3% of their body weight).

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Yes, they are smaller so they will eat less. However the amount they eat will still be proportionate to larger goats (3% of their body weight).

Thank you for all that info!