If you haven’t dewormed lately, start there, a wormy goat will look junky no matter what you are feeding her. If they are under or overweight or have scruffy hair, something is out of balance. How do you know when to adjust the ration? Are your goats active, with nice looking hair coats? Then they are probably fine. You need to watch them, see how they are doing and adjust as needed. Knowing how your herd was fed at the farm you bought them from is a great start, but only a start. No one else knows your goats better than you, even if you are new. Are they getting enough? Watch your goats My daughter’s goats, they are a Boer cross. This is a completely normal challenge for all livestock enthusiasts, not just those of us with goats! How do you handle this variability? Easy, by paying attention. That’s because this is one of those “figure it out as you go” things.įeed, especially purchased forages, will vary from year to year. I’m pretty sure you are hoping for more specifics than this: 2-4 (maybe even 5) pounds is no where near exact! So true. If they are eating roughage only, it is more in the 5 pound range. Goats need around 2-4 pounds of roughage each, per day, if they are also getting concentrates. Goats need to have the majority of their diet to be roughage, in order for their digestive system to work well. Roughage is the fancy term for whole plant materials, like leaves and stems of hay, that your goats would be eating. Goats are ruminants (they chew their cud) and like all ruminants, they need the biggest part of their daily diet to be roughage. If not, you need to provide more clean water per day. Here’s the non specific, but super accurate way to handle the water needs for your goats-make sure they never run out! Seriously, it’s simple and effective.Īnytime you come back to check on them, there should be some clean water leftover from last time. How much water do they need? Water needs will vary with the season, their ration and size of the goats. There is no substitute for plentiful water and all body processes depend upon it.Įven if the rest of the goat’s ration (daily eating) is perfect, limited water intake will restrict the ability of the goat to grow and use the feed you gave it.Īllow your herd to perform up to their potential by giving them unrestricted access to plentiful, clean water. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will influence the health and whole body functionality of your goats like water. It may surprise you to see water as the first part of the feed section, but it really shouldn’t. Water-the most important “feed” ingredient Here are the four basic feeding categories you will need to figure out for your goat herd: Looking for more specifics on raising goat, specifically the costs involved? Read my article Thinking Of Getting Into Meat Goats: Costs Of Getting Started. Unfortunately, that still leaves the question: what is the appropriate way to feed your goats? The whole tin can thing is misleading, common sense tells us that. We all have seen the cartoons with a goat “eating” a tin can. Goats seem to be the farm animal with the most inaccurate (or non existent), feeding information out there, yikes! Specific amounts depend upon the specific goat (age, growth rate, etc.) and the total ration being fed. Goats need a high quality 14-18% protein feed and 2-5 pounds of forage each, per day. However, feeding them can be a challenge due to lack of information on how to do it. So, you’re excited about getting a starter herd of goats! Awesome, goats are fun!
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