What do GOATS eat?
Let’s talk what and how to feed our goats. The reality is goats are SUPER easy to feed, because as long as you are able to offer them adequate pasture to graze, a HUGE portion of their food will simply come from the ground. Easy!
But what we need is the nitty-gritty on what ELSE to feed our goats. Or if you don’t have pasture, what can you feed them to replace the natural forage they eat when free to roam?
Hay
Hay is far and away the MOST important food item for goats. Even goats with lush pasture should have hay available, as goats need the dry, stemmy matter to aid in digestion because they are ruminants. On our farm, we prefer to offer hay free choice (meaning it is sitting out for them in the barn 24/7). But if you are keeping your goats in a small paddock or dry lot, plan to feed around 3-5% of your goats’ body weight in hay each day (So about 2-4 lbs of hay per day for a dwarf breed or young goat, or 4-8 lbs per day for an adult of full size breeds). This amount increases for does in milk, as they burn significantly more calories from milk production, so plan on a dairy goat needing 5-7% of her body weight in hay.
IMPORTANT NOTE - We feed ONLY hay to our male goats (bucks and wethers). Male goats can develop a condition called Urinary Calculi (commonly abbreviated as UC) where urinary stones form and block their urinary tract, causing extreme pain and death if left untreated. UC is most commonly caused by feeding too much phosphorus-rich food (typically grain or grain-based pellets). The phosphorus builds up in the system and causes these urinary stones to form, which block the urinary tract and lead to an inability to urinate. Without treatment, most male goats that develop UC die within hours or days from ruptured bladders. So please use EXTREME CAUTION when feeding anything beyond grass hay to male goats.
Grain
Grain can be a useful tool to help young goats gain weight or to provide enough calories for does in milk to produce well while maintaining condition. But it is important to note that grain should always be considered a supplement to a healthy diet of hay and forage, and should not make up a bulk of a goat’s diet.
On our farm, we feed grain exclusively to does on the milk stand. We have found that kids that grow up with grain supplementation tend to need it lifelong to maintain weight well, while goat kids that are raised on grass and hay tend to keep their condition on just grass and hay throughout their lives. And we have no interest in dealing with UC in our male goats, so we keep them FAR away from the grain bin.
Our dairy goats eat a homemade mix of the following:
Alfalfa pellets (5 parts) - 17% protein
Dairy goat pellets (3 parts) - 16% protein
Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (1 part) - 14% protein
Whole oats (1 part) - 8.7% protein
When in milk, a dairy goat needs a grain mix that has at least 15% protein. This protein will provide them with enough energy and nutrition to produce milk. The mix above comes out to be about 15.5% protein. You could leave out the BOSS and oats to increase the protein percentage, but we like that those carbs add calories to help the mamas stay at a healthy weight.
When determining HOW MUCH to feed does in milk, we use the following rule of thumb:
1 lb of grain + 1 lb of grain for every 3lbs of milk produced
3 lbs of milk is 0.35 gallons or about 1.5 quarts (5.5 cups). We like to round up a bit, so we feed 1 lb of feed plus 1 lb for every quart of milk produced. That means a dairy goat producing a quart per day gets 2 lbs of grain (1+1), and a doe producing a gallon (4 quarts) per day gets 5 lbs of grain (1+4). It is important to base this off of how much milk your doe produces in a full day, NOT just how much you get when you milk. If you have kids drinking milk from mom all day, she needs grain to supplement for that milk production too. We typically separate our kids at night to milk in the morning (about a 12 hour separation), so whatever amount we milk, we double it to calculate the doe’s full daily production.
Treats
Goats LOVE treats! But unfortunately, ruminants’ digestive systems are fairly easily upset, so it is best to keep unhealthy treats to a minimum. Things like banana peels, vegetables, fruits, or even weeds are tasty treats for goats!
We like to feed our goats a handful of alfalfa pellets each evening. This reminds them to come back home to the barn after a long day of foraging in the pasture. And they clearly believe alfalfa pellets are quite the treat!
More than anything as you decide how to feed your goats, recognize that YOU are in the best position to monitor the health and weight of your animals. So keep an eye on them and adjust your feeding regimen as needed to keep your goats happy and healthy!
