General Feeding Guidelines for Goats
Related Articles
Nigerian Dwarf Bottle Feeding Schedule
NEW! Buy the refrigerator magnet of this schedule for instant, easy reference. Shop here. Even if you dam raise your kids, it’s inevitable that you’ll…
Herb Dosing Amounts for Goats
Because there are many herbs and many combinations of herbs, these herbal dosing amounts assume one very important fact: you know the safety and synergy…
A Year in the Life of a Goat
While all the details may make it seem like goats are complicated to care for, in reality, they have simple needs and simple regular maintenance…
Fencing
Before you buy goats, you’ll want to have a minimal infrastructure in place – a fenced “home” area and a good shelter. It’s fine to…
Shelter
Like fencing, shelter can be as elaborate and costly or as minimalist and economical as you want it to be. While we have a big…
Thanks so much for the great, useful information. I do use a silage hay as a suppliment and they love it. I see some changes that I need to make. I am also using free choice minerals.
You’re welcome! Hope it was a help. Nutrition seems to be such a difficult one to work out with so many voices and different methods.
Good morning,
Someone recommended your site because we have two 3 month old Nigerian Dwarf does we just brought home two days ago. I’m really confused about the feed. They were milking from mama until we got them. We have plenty of coastal hay which they had at their other home. They are eating it but I’m not sure if they’re getting everything they need because when I give them some grains (Kalmbach 16% protein) they scarf it down and beg for more. Should I be giving them a ration on a regular basis? I can’t tell how much hay they’re eating but it doesn’t look like much. They seem to like pine branches/needles too. We haven’t started free ranging them yet since they’re new but maybe they’ll get more of what they need once we do that.
I soak my chicken feed and they’re really healthy so I was wondering if I should do the same for the does? I also plan to give them a mix of beets and alfalfa pellets (soaked in hot water first) with their herbal dewormer weekly.
I really need a roadmap of how much grains to give them daily (if any), if they should be soaked or if no grains, should I try different hays or just let them adapt? I don’t want to upset their bellies by giving them too much but I’m not sure what the appropriate amount is. Sorry for the long message. I’m just so confused! 🙂
Thank you for your advice!
Hi, I am sorry that you feel so overwhelmed, it can seem intimidating knowing what to do! So goats are greedy little buggers and will always beg for more grain…if they don’t, you’ve probably overfed them! So that is normal. High quality hay, browse and minerals are all that kids that age need. Unless you are dealing with one who is undernourished, I wouldn’t recommend additional grains as necessary, although my kids do benefit from access to alfalfa hay and/or alfalfa silage (chaffhay/alfahay). If you do want to offer some grain as an additional energy source, I wouldn’t advise more than 1/4 lb per day per doeling. A few pine branches here and there are ok, but if they aren’t on browse, make sure that you aren’t offering too many all at once which can upset their rumen, and some varieties can be an abortifactant. There is more on this in our forums I can direct you there if needed. I have never soaked my goats’ grain. When it gets wet, they turn their noses up at it, so there is no need unless you want to look into fermenting their feeds, or if they just prefer it soaked, that is ok too! As long as your hay is nice and green and not dusty or chemically smelling, they should adapt. Goats can be picky and resist changes during moves especially as well. Some probiotics and herbs high in vitamin B might be helpful to jumpstart their digestion again. A bit of yogurt or kombucha, and some nutritional yeast, kelp or catnip would be good inclusions right now. Garlic and echinacea are good immune system boosters for the stress of a recent move too. Hope I have helped you some. You are welcome to reach out directly or via email again if you need more help!
Hi! Thank you so much for this detailed information. I just want to do right by them and it’s so new, so I really appreciate this. I’d rather not soak it so I’m happy it isn’t necessary. Yes, they are little beggers! They even escape the electric fence to get to the chickens food so I’m not sure how to manage that if I let the goats free range at some point.
I am going to see if I can find some alfalfa silage so maybe they’ll like that. Are there any particular herbs with vitamin B and type of probiotics that’s good for goats? I have kombucha, garlic, kelp and dried catnip on hand but how do I get them to eat it? Maybe in soaked alfalfa/beets? I need to give them their Molly’s Herbal dewormer too but is it too much too add all that at once?
I can also email you if that’s easier. They were jumping into their mineral bucket last night and I had to give them a sponge bath this morning. It’s the blue Kalmbach bucket they had at their other home so I guess I need to hang that up lol. They were so sticky this morning.
Yes i think email might be good, or even posting in the nutrition group here on this app/ website would be good! Feel free to let me know if you make a post so i can respond to you there!