Im a little confused on how/what to feed my goat kids

[Pearce Pastures]

No baking soda free choice here---it can also interrupt mineral absorption if the eat it constantly.

 

[CordleFarm]

I do not use baking soda either and have not had any issues with bloat. The one time that we changed feed, we did it gradually so to not upset their systems. My herd also has access to a variety of browse, but we still offer loose minerals free-choice. There are times when they consume more of the minerals and times they consume less, but they only eat what they need. Everyone's situation is unique, so a little trial and error is necessary to find out what works best for your herd.

 

[Southern by choice]

I also am new to goats. I've had them about 2 wks. so far, so good. my goats are in an area that is 99.9% browse. very very little grass. the browse is lots of variable weeds, leaves, trees, etc. I'm wondering if in such an environment do minerals still need to be added free choice?
I have the parts to make the pvc feeder. i'm making one tonight.
I had bought baking soda & intended to give it to them free choice. now, southern, you throw the monkey wrench into the process. I too want to operate by the premise "less is better".
livestock is a completely new arena for me (I've now had chickens for a year). the idea of bloat is really scary. an animal in extreme pain is not something I'm equipped to deal with.

I would still recommend free choice minerals...the browse is great but still can be lacking in certain necessary nutrients. Goats will go to the mineral when they need it. We do give a small (like 1 cup) of high quality goat feed (not sweet feed) in the am.
Between the 1 cup of feed and the mineral and all the grass, leaves and browse available they end up getting what is needed. The feed IMO helps keep a good balance.

We do not have parasite issues and started with healthy stock, I think that is important. This is our "norm" year round 24 day they always have hay available. We don't do anything special... never had bloat. The one thing I think would cause this is getting into chicken feed, too much goat feed ( as in somehow they got the lid off the bin and ate too much) then you may have an issue.

Here is my take on it... of course this is just my opinion, if a person is constantly experiencing issues with bloat - A) I think management practices need to be reviewed, esp feeding... B) if it is a particular goat that is dealing with it over and over for no apparent real reason... it would go in my freezer. I would not "cull" as in sell it, I would take it out of the gene pool and have goat burgers.

For thousands of years goats survived and thrived without all this fuss and muss. Baking soda should be on hand for emergency - yes. Don't misunderstand me when I say that... I take excellent care of my animals, monitoring everything way more than I even need to. i Have in another place, a thread about lab work I had done because I knew something was off and suspected high iron to be the issue, I will do what is always in my animals best interest however I prefer an animal proving , with "data" or sound reasoning, that it "needs" something. http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26482

The above link will show how things can happen and by observing you can prevent issues from getting worse.

There are many people who use this and give this free choice... they are awesome goat owners, and maybe they can shed some light on this that maybe I am ignorant to. I get to learn from others by them sharing their ways. IMO there is more than one way to keep goats and each person needs to decide for themselves what works best for them!