Male Goat Feeding Advice Needing

[Tiffany L]

I am bringing home a herd sire this weekend and will be my first buckling to keep as herd sire. What does everyone feed their bucks? I keep hearing that a lot of foods trigger urinary calculi and want to hear what you all do for prevention. Thanks in advance BTW my girls eats: 16% sweet goat feed, alfalfa pellets when hay isn't top quality, and of course free choice minerals on top of whatever pasture is available.

 

[Hens and Roos]

 

[Tiffany L]

????

 

[jodief100]

Boys don't need protein levels that high. 10%-12% is fine. Make sure that you have 2x as much Calcium as Phosphorus in your feed and mineral. I personally recommend feeding bucks very little grain, 0.5% of their body weight at MOST, maybe a little more when they are breeding. They should be fine on browse, hay and mineral. A little grain if they are loosing condition. If you feed grain, add Ammonium Chloride at the rate of 2 lbs per 100 lbs of feed. Goats shouldn't be fat. Fat bucks have trouble breeding, fat does have trouble kidding.

 

[Tiffany L]

Currently my loose minerals consist of Dumor Mineral Blocks and Manna Pro loose minerals - are the sufficient for the bucks? Do bucks creep feed the same as does? (I always sell my boys as bottle babies so I'm not sure) Or do they just need hay and minimal grain as creep feed? He's currently 6 weeks old and only playing w/ grain now not actually eating it.

 

[Tiffany L]

This is the analysis of the Dumor Block
Crude Protein (min.) 18.00%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.00%, Crude Fiber (max.) 8.00%, Calcium (Ca) (min.) 3.20%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 4.20%, Phosphorus(P) (min.) 1.00%, Salt(NaCl) (min.) 10.00%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) 12.00%, Sodium (Na) (min.) 4.50%, Sodium (Na) (max.) 5.50%, Copper (Cu) (min.) 50.00ppm, Copper (Cu) (max.) 55.00ppm, Iodine (I) (min.) 10.00ppm, Selenium(Se) (min.) 1.00ppm, Selenium (Se) (max.) 1.10ppm, Zinc (Zn) (min.) 170.00ppm, Vitamin A (min.) 20,000IU/lb, Vitamin D-3 (min.) 1000IU/lb

 

[Hens and Roos]

????

I'm watching to see what others reply with so I can learn also

 

[jodief100]

I wouldn't use the block. Loose minerals are better. Goats can break their teeth on blocks.

Lets look at the nutritional analysis

Crude Protein (min.) 18.00% : Higher than needed. Usually not a health issue but can be a waste of money. May be a health issue for bucks if they eat A LOT of it.
Calcium (Ca) (min.) 3.20%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 4.20%, Phosphorus(P) (min.) 1.00%, : Calcium is 3.2 times the phosphorus, this is good, it needs to be at least 2x.

Copper (Cu) (min.) 50.00ppm, Copper (Cu) (max.) 55.00ppm,
Iodine (I) (min.) 10.00ppm,
Selenium(Se) (min.) 1.00ppm, Selenium (Se) (max.) 1.10ppm,

It has copper, iodine and selenium- all good.

I am not a big fan of creep feeding in general, but especially for bucks. The grain is good for growing kids but you don't want it to be too high of a percentage of their diet. I would give them as much as they can eat in 20 minutes a day- no more. Take it away after 20 minutes. Make sure it has Ammonium Chloride in it if feeding bucks.

How old is the buck you are bringing home?

 

[Tiffany L]

He's 6 weeks old.

 

[jodief100]

At 6 weeks he could use some grain for growth. Again, not too much- no more than 1% of his body weight. All of the hay and browse he wants. Do you have a buddy for him?

My vet had a situation this year with a male goat, about 6 weeks old with a severe case of UC. He had to reroute the boys entire plumbing system. He barely survived and is now a wether, who pees out the back end. This boy is a pet, otherwise he would have been put down as opposed to having several hundred dollars worth of surgery.

- cause- High grain diet. He was getting 2-3% of his body weight a day in 18% protein grain.