Goats are actually VERY easy to feed once you learn their required ratios. They only require hay, fresh water, and a goat specific mineral. If they are able to browse, that's amazing too. The most important aspect to know about feeding your goat is the proper ratio for calcium to phosphorus, which is 2:1 up to 4:1. Everything your goat eats should be factored in.
Goats don't ACTUALLY need pelleted feed, and they definitely don't need grain or sweet feed. They are usually used for rapid weight gain in meat goats, malnourished goats, or does that are producing milk. Feeding males sweet feed or grain, even the ones formulated for goats, is a big cause of urinary stones which leads to urinary calculi. Please, please, please do not feed males any whole grain feed, molasses (including feeds that are coated with molasses) and especially corn. If you must feed your goats pellets, a small amount of alfalfa is the most recommended. Adding a little alfalfa to your goats’ diet can also bring up an otherwise low calcium level into the optimal zone.
Our does are active breeders, meaning they are typically either pregnant, have kids on them, or are being milked. They get a two month break in between milking and being bred again. We feed them a mixed ratio of 4 cups 18% Show Goat feed, 1 cup alfalfa pellets, and 2 Tbsp of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS). We fill up a metal trashcan with this mix, and each doe gets 1 cup of this mixed feed every night. When a doe has kids, she gets an additional cup (2 total), until she weans them. If we are milking, the doe gets as much as she wants while on the milking stand. This helps keep her healthy and able to maintain her weight.
Loose minerals should be given fresh daily. One of the best loose minerals is Sweetlix Meatmaker (16:8 ratio), but it's not very common in stores (at least in our area). Manna Pro goat minerals is a lot more common and we highly recommend it over other brands - it's actually what we use for our goats. The most important thing with loose minerals is (of course) the calcium to phosphorus ratio, BUT the individual content of the loose minerals is also important. When picking a loose mineral, compare it to Sweetlix to check for similar levels. You don't want copper (1750 ppm minimum, 1810 ppm maximum) or selenium (50 ppm minimum) levels much lower, and don't want sodium (10% salt minimum, 12% salt maximum) a lot higher.
Fresh water is really important. Goats won't drink anything that has dirt or debris in it. On hot days, we typically dump and refill their water 2-3 times a day to ensure they don't get dehydrated.
Vegetables and fruits are great snacks to give, but they should be given in a clean raised feeder. Most goats won't eat food that has been dirtied or tossed onto the ground.
It's pretty easy to keep goats happy and healthy, especially once you figure out the calcium to phosphorus ratio and get a routine going. It definitely gives you a peace of mind to know that they are receiving everything they need to thrive, especially when you have pregnant does to care for!
As explained in our post, Goats: Reviving a Lifeless Kid, we are part of a FANTASTIC backyard Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf group on Facebook, and the majority of our information comes from their files.
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