Basics of our herd management
No, they don't eat everything, but they will consume the contents of your wallet, and maybe the wallet if you let them...
Nutrition
Goats are ruminants, meaning they have 4 stomachs. A goat's rumination method of processing food requires plenty of roughage and fiber to work properly. Unlike other domestic ruminants like sheep and cattle, goats are not considered "grazers". They are more like deer and are "browsers" eating from high to low, preferring trees and shrubs to grass. They are notorious for wasting hay as they will pick out the best parts first, but it is perfectly natural for them to nibble here and there. If you are considering getting a goat as a "lawnmower", just know they will eat your trees, rose bushes and raspberries long before they even touch any grass. That being said, goats do enjoy browsing pasture but they will eat the tall tender bits and specific plants usually leaving shorter grasses alone.
We feed our herd of around 50 head about 15-18 tons of hay per year. Depending on the season and weather conditions the amount and type will vary. Milking does will have about 2# per goat of 70% or higher alfalfa fed 1X a day. We feed at night and do notice this helps during kidding season to have day time babies. Our pastures have a variety of grass and forage for fresh grazing variety in the summer. Winter months we occasionally supplement with a pelleted hay feed for added forage.
We purchase bulk grain rations as it is the most cost effective and eliminates waist of hundreds of individual feed bags. While it dose require a tractor to unload the 1500lb totes, we have a customized mix that can be adjusted if needed to match the type of hay available and the time of year. In general, we shoot for 18% protein, 22-24% fiber. The mix consists mostly of rolled oats, barley, canola pellet, BOSS, cotton seed, ground flax, very little corn and no Soy.
What each goat gets as far as grain depends highly on age and stage of lactation or development. Pregnant and lactating does will generally receive higher quantities of the heavier protein and fiber. For our herd, fiber is the key to good milk production. High quality fiber allows for goats to better digest the protein and keeps the milk components from becoming inverted. Things like cotton, flax, and whole oats are good sources of fiber.
Kids will get more fat in their diet, and bucks need very little extra feed supplements except for during breeding season. We do not recommend giving grain to wethers (neutered males) unless we are trying to "finish" them before butchering. Even then, the muscling from a good quality alfalfa hay and forage is, in our opinion, better than grain finish.
Supplements
The biggest thing that can affect the health and productivity of a herd is proper minerals. We feed a loose mineral that is formulated for the Northern Rockies being higher in selenium and also balanced well for goats in copper, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and cobalt. In addition to the loose mineral, we have a variety of salt licks available and Vitalix protein and vitamin tubs. Goats in general are very good at regulating their needs when it comes to minerals. This is why we offer the variety free choice.
We do not offer baking soda free choice like many do because in our experience it does more harm than good. It is something we always have on hand and will offer if we notice a goat looking “off”. We do keep type C medicated livestock bloat blocks available free choice. These blocks are more effective for prevention of frothy bloat or bloat caused by botulism or possible mold in the hay. While we try to feed as high quality hay as possible occasionally there are spots from moisture in the field, a leak in the tarp or just bad harvest years when it’s hard to find perfect hay.
Before and after kidding, we give a selenium and vitamin E paste to the does. This helps replenish and maintain energy during a stressful process. We also keep powdered and paste electrolytes on hand for a plethora of scenarios. Electrolytes are important when the weather gets outrageously hot as well as general traveling, shows, moving pens and any time an animal is off feed or under the weather. We cover our bases by administering plenty of electrolytes!
treats
I will preface this section with a warning....
Please Do Not Kill Your Goats With Kindness!!!
It is and easy thing for people to love to spoil their goats, and why wouldn't you? They are perfect and adorable trouble makers. BUT goats have a more delicate digestive system than most realize, particularly when it comes to fat. Goats layer fat on their internal organs (heart, lungs, liver etc..) before they will get outwardly fat. Dairy goats especially will never and should never be plump, they are designed to be very lean athletic animals. The health problems on severely overweight goats can quickly spiral out of control and can end with a very sad and painful good bye to the pets you loved so much!
That being said...
Treats are a great way to train goats to new pastures, new gates and in general showing and handling.
Our goats are particularly fond of peanuts. Whole in shell, no salt, roasted or raw no mater, they love them!
We also like banana chips, they are cheap to make ourselves (no sugar added) and the people can enjoy those treats too!
When they really get spoiled is when the lemon cookies come out. Generic branded, lemon sandwich type cookies are the ultimate treat. We don’t give them very often but for special occasions our girls go crazy for lemon cookies.
How about compost?
For the most part the milking does are picky and we don't want their milk to taste like last weeks leftovers. For bucks and dry stock, we will give fresh corn husks, garden vegetables, pumpkin and other things that come from our garden.
In the end the only ones that really like compost are the chickens.
Health Care
Bio-security is very important to us as well as maintaining a healthy herd. We like to use natural methods when we can, but some situations require more conventional methods of treatment. All new animals are inspected and quarantined for a time period before being introduced to the rest of the herd. While we do offer outside breeding to our bucks, we expect the same kind of disease prevention and awareness and require a health check before any goat is exposed to our herd.
We test regularly for CAE, CL and Jonhes diseases through WADDL or UBRL and we currently have a clean herd.
We bottle raise kids with heat treated milk for preventative measures
All animals have a yearly basic CD&T vaccination
We use herbal worming methods as preventative but use conventional wormers (Ivermectin and Valbazen) as needed.
Kids are treated as preventative for Coccidiosis with Sulfadimethoxine Oral solution at 3-4 months old or as needed depending on the time of year, temperatures and weather conditions as these effect the likelihood of cocci bloom.
Since veterinarians that know goats are hard to come by or are often unavailable, we keep a fully stocked medicine cabinet for just about every medical emergency no matter how big or small!
For Supplies
https://www.caprinesupply.com/