What kind of grain to feed baby goats
What Can Baby Goats Eat? Is Hay ok? Grain?
Recently, our goat gave birth to two little, beautiful baby goats. If you have baby goats, you are probably worried about the proper time to wean, what supplements babies need, and when you should introduce hay.
When can kid goats eat hay? While baby goats will start nibbling hay almost from birth by mimicking mom, they won’t get many nutrients from hay until they are at least double their birth weight. Kids will start to eat hay as a minor part of their diet within days of birth. Kids can be weaned as young as 30 days old, but waiting until they are 6-8 weeks old will help develop and grow your baby goats. During this time, kids will start to munch on hay naturally.
Timing isn’t a steadfast rule, though. When a goat reaches 2.5% of its birth weight, it can be weaned and have hay become its main diet. Their bodies are ready to digest hay. Kids that their moms don’t nurse will need to be bottle-fed for at least 6-8 weeks before transitioning to hay.
Weaning is the process of introducing your baby goats to solid food. You may be surprised to know that hay is the preferred feed of goats. Hay should make up 80-100% of a goat’s diet. And, there are many kinds of hay. (link to article) Its fibrous material is beneficial to build rumen in baby goats. The rumen is the main digesting chamber in baby goats that develop during the weaning period.
You should avoid any quick transitions in your baby goat feed from milk to hay. It can cause bloating and other severe digestive issues due to improper rumen development. At birth, 15%, or less, of a baby goat’s diet should be hay.
When can Baby Goats Digest the Nutrients in Hay?By about 1-2 months, healthy baby goats are able to digest hay and absorb the nutrients in the feed properly. Doelings that are kept with the mamas for a longer period may still occasionally nurse but will increase their hay until they mostly eat hay. Bucklings should be weaned and separated from their moms by 10 weeks because of their budding sexual maturity.
At this age, baby goats mainly digest fiber from hay that improves the development of the epithelial lining of their rumen. This will ultimately increase the absorption of their nutrients capacity. Furthermore, you can also provide baby goats some minerals for their muscle growth. But keep in mind that you can only give them loose minerals to facilitate digestion.
How to Facilitate Baby Goat for Hay FeedingGoats are very social animals. They learn quickly from the environment. Baby goats will usually have access to taste and nibble on hay when they are with their mamas. If you have a baby goat that’s separated from its mom, you can still offer hay when your goat is only two weeks old. But don’t expect your kid goat to start eating hay in earnest for at least a few more weeks.
During weaning, separate baby goats from their mother. Offer hay as an open choice food. If you are bottle-feeding your baby goats, you can gradually lengthen out their bottle feedings by a couple of hours and reduce the number of times each day they nurse from the bottle.
During this period, make sure your goats have plenty of hay to eat.
A baby goat likes to try new food and will start nibbling consistently. This will automatically drive baby goat attention towards hay without extra effort.
Sometimes, it is also observed that baby goats start to eat hay with their mother as a learning adaptation. This happens mostly when you rear goats as pets. Overall, in either case, a comfortable environment helps baby goats to adopt solid food quickly.
What to Feed a Separated Baby Goat?Feeding an orphan or separated baby goat is an important issue when you have no alternative milk doe. But, you can feed baby goats by the bottle. Milk is the primary and most important diet for a baby goat. You should provide milk by the bottle at least 6-8 times a day for 3-4 weeks, depending upon the health condition of a baby goat. Usually, you can use milk from other milk doe or milk goat starter formula (check out our favorite kind on our recommendations page).
However, it is better to use milk from doe instead of milk formula.
Baby goats need colostrum, which is different from milk. Lactating mothers produce colostrum for the first few days of a baby’s life. If you don’t have a goat producing any, you can also purchase commercial colostrum for your babies. This is crucial for orphan baby goats as it builds their initial structural and digestive systems.
After a few weeks, you can start to provide solid food to orphan baby goats. First, provide greens or hay. Then you can also feed other nutritious feed like baby goat pellets. Continue bottle-feeding along with other feed. After 8 weeks, you can fully replace milk with hay, grain, and other feed supplements.
Do Baby Goats Eat at Night?Goats don’t usually eat at nighttime, but baby goats and kids are different. They cannot go all night without eating, or it will impact their growth and health. Younger baby goats need to feed more frequently, according to their age.
During the first week, the baby goat needs six to eight feedings a day, which means a feeding every 3-4 hours.
From the second to fourth week, you should feed your baby goat every 6–8 hours. It means that midnight feeding is also included. However, you can feed baby goats just before going to your bed and just after you get up. After the fourth week onward, baby goats don’t need night feedings anymore.
If you keep a baby goat with its mother for the first few weeks, the baby goat can nurse anytime they want.
| Age | Frequency of feeding |
| 0-3 days | Colostrum supplement |
| 0-7 days | Every 3-4 hours |
| 1 week- 2 weeks | Every 4-6 hours, increase feedings by 15 minutes a day to adjust. |
| 2-4 weeks | every 6-8 hours |
| 5+ weeks | Every 8 hours from morning to night |
Hay is the preferred food for goats.
It is essential. Hay provides both nutrition and roughage, or fiber, that assists kid goats in rumen development. What Kind of Hay is the Best for a Kid Goat? Grass hay is the preferred type of hay to feed goats. However, because kid goats are growing and their bones developing, alfalfa is also acceptable for young goats. Alfalfa has higher protein and calcium than grass hay.
Most grass hay contains around 7-8% protein content. In terms of hay grass, Bermudagrass and orchardgrass is an excellent option for a kid goat. These grass hays are more palatable and nutritious.
Both alfalfa and grass hay should come from the first and second cuttings. The later the plant has to grow, the less nutritious it will be for your goats. As plant flowers, the nutrients go into the seed, and it becomes nutrient deficient in the stalk, leaves, and other parts.
One of the most critical things is hay quality as kid goats are under development. Don’t feed your goats contaminated or moldy hay.
It will disturb and harm their digestive system. Consider hay quality a priority.
Important tip: Goats have sensitive digestive systems and can easily bloat. Offer free-choice baking soda to your goats to help with their health and avoid bloating and the other health issues that can come from bloating.
How Long Should A Baby Goat Bottle Feed?Although baby goats can be weaned as early as 4 weeks, they often benefit from having milk in their diet for up to 8 weeks. If you are nursing a baby goat, you might consider bottle feeding for a little longer than 4 weeks.
A struggling kid can eat as often as 6 times a day or every 4 hours, but they may only eat a couple of ounces at a time. As your kid grows, they will naturally drink more milk and go longer between feedings. A good rule of thumb is that your baby goat will eat about twice as many ounces per day as they weigh in pounds.
At 5-6 pounds, a baby goat will eat about 12-15 ounces of milk a day.
They should be eating every 6 hours. As your goat gains weight, they will eat 16-17 ounces of milk a day. When your goat weighs at least 7 or 8 pounds, it is ok to reduce the number of bottle feedings each day down to 3 or 4.
Many owners prefer to keep feeding their baby goats 4 times a day, but they may lengthen out the night feedings for convenience’s sake. An 8 lb goat will eat about 18 oz of milk a day but will have smaller feedings during the day and a larger feeding in the morning and right before bed. When a goat reaches 10 lbs, you can reduce milk feedings two times a day, but the total ounces per day should remain at 20-22 ounces in a 24-hour period. Your goat will eat more ounces until they are about 25 pounds and eating about 40 ounces of milk a day.
When Should a Kid Goat Eat Grain?Baby goats should not be fed grain as a newborn. Even for adult goats, grain should be treated like candy and used only as a treat. Grain is compacted with calories and can be given to pregnant or lactating does, and to 4H kids who are being fattened for the meat market.
Heavy doses of grain are not good for a goat’s long-term health.
After 3-6 weeks, you can introduce grains, as a treat, to your baby goat. At that time, its digestive system is more developed, and it looks to eat new food. Find grains that are free from mud and stones. Grain is usually sold in four different forms, whole, pelleted, rolled, and texturized. When kids are young, avoid whole grains. Instead, provide baby goat-modified grains in other states.
Baby Goats That Develop Diarrhea During WeaningBaby goats that develop runny fecal matter while weaning may have Enterotoxemia. Enterotoxemia is often a severe disease of goats and can occur at any age. It is caused by two strains of bacteria called Clostridium perfringens (types C and D). These bacteria are ordinarily found in low numbers in the gastrointestinal tract of all goats.
Dietary changes are the primary cause. Be very careful when changing the type of grain or hay that your goats eat.
It can stimulate the disease’s growth in the intestines.
During the weaning period, many baby goats develop severe diarrhea. These are the most typical symptoms of this disease. If the mother goat is already a carrier of this disease, the baby goat can suffer severely during the weaning period. The best remedy is vaccination of this disease to both mother and baby goat.
ConclusionEnsuring the proper diet of hay and milk for young goats will help them to grow properly. After goats transition to almost entirely a hay diet, make sure that they are being fed nutritious and clean hay. But that’s not the only thing a goat needs for good health. Check out this article to find out what other nutrients and minerals goats need for optimal health.
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How Much, and How Often to Feed Goats? [Feeding Chart & Guide]
To the uninitiated, goats may seem to be the easiest animal to care for. After all, goats have a reputation for consuming just about anything. But not so fast, as those claims are more or less old wives’ tales. Like any other animal, a goat will eat what is available to survive. However, it does not mean that they do not have dietary preferences.
What’s more, not feeding your goats the correct diet not only compromises their health but also lowers their quality of milk or meat. So, what should you feed goats? Read on to learn everything you need to know about this subject.
What to Feed Goats
Goats need the following to thrive:
Roughage (Hay)Roughage should always be available to goats, with hay being the best form of roughage for goats. Hay should form the bulk of your goat’s daily feed, making up to 40% of that feed. Goats bred for milking should consume more hay than others do, with experts recommending feeding milking goats up to 9 pounds of hay per day. For other goats, 4 pounds of hay per day should be enough.
When it comes to the choice of hay, Alfalfa is the best, as it contains more vitamins, minerals, and protein than any other type of grass.
Image Credit: qimono, PixabayGrainsGrains are a great source of proteins and vitamins for goats.
However, refrain from feeding your goats too much grain, as this can negatively affect their health.
One cup of grain is sufficient for adult goats, while ½ cup of grain is ideal for kids (baby goats). However, pregnant goats and those kept for milking can eat up to 2 cups a day, as they need the extra protein and fat. The best type of grain to feed goats is wheat, barley, and oats.
MineralsYou should provide your goat with loose minerals to allow the animal-rich access to nutrients that are not in high concentration in their feed. Consider buying blocks of magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus for your goat.
Clean WaterGoats require lots of water to help them digest their roughage-rich diet. Therefore, make sure that your goats have access to lots of fresh and clean water 24/7.
Related Read: What Do Goats Eat in the Wild and as Pets?
What Not to Feed Goats
Since goats are herbivorous, you do not want them to eat any meat or dairy products.
Their stomachs are not designed to process those products. Feeding your goat anything, including supplements that contain meat or dairy products, can result in all kinds of health issues.
You should also check your pasture to make sure that it does not contain plants that are poisonous to goats, such as azalea, rhododendron, and yew. Here is the complete list of plants that are poisonous to goats.
Most importantly, make sure that your hay is not moldy when you feed it to your goats. If you even suspect that it could have mold, throw it away, as moldy hay can result in illnesses such as goat polio, listeriosis, or even death.
Image Credit: Carola68, PixabayGoat Feeding Chart
Feeding Chart for Baby Goats 1-90 Days OldAge Milk Conc. Mixture Green/Day 1-3 days Colostrum 300ml 3 feedings 4-14 days 350ml 3 feedings 15-30 days 350ml 3 feedings A little A little 31-60 days 400ml 2 feedings 100–150 grams Free choice 61-90 days 200ml feedings 200–250 grams Free choice
Age Concentrate Mixture Green Straw 3 months 150-200 grams 500 grams As per choice 4 months 200-250 grams 600 grams As per choice 5 months 225-275 grams 700 grams As per choice 6 months 250-300 grams 800 grams As per choice 7 months 250-300 grams 900 grams As per choice 8 months 300-350 grams 1,000 grams As per choice 9 months 300-350 grams 1,000 grams As per choice 10 months 300-350 grams 1,200 grams As per choice 11 months 300-350 grams 1,300 grams As per choice 12 months 300-350 grams 1,500 grams As per choice
Adult Type Grazing (number of hours per day) Straw Green Fodder Concentrate Dry, non-pregnant doe, adult male 5-6 hours 300-400 grams 750-1,000 grams 100-150 grams Lactating doe 5-6 hours 300-400 grams 1000-1,500 grams 100+(400g/kg milk) Breeding bucks 5-6 hours 300-400 grams 1000-1,500 grams 500 grams during breeding season only
Source: https://www.
kisansuvidha.com/feeding-schedule-goats/?v=ad4f1670f142
How Often to Feed Goats
The amount of feed a goat requires varies with age, size, and the animal’s function. However, as mentioned, the average adult goat requires about 4 pounds of hay per day to thrive. That figure can increase or decrease depending on the amount the goat forages on pasture. This means that more foraging equates to less hay, while less foraging means more consumption of hay.
Consider feeding your goat twice a day, meaning about 2 pounds of hay in the morning and the other 2 pounds in the evening.
Is it Essential to Pasture Goats?
Pasture is vital to goats, as it is their primary source of nutrients. Pasture is especially rich in protein and energy. What’s more, it is cheap, which is why it is so popular with farmers. Therefore, ensure that your goats have access to pasture.
Image Credit: T.Den Team, ShutterstockCan Goats Eat Kitchen and Garden Scraps?
Yes, goats can eat your compost.
However, you must first make sure that it does not contain foods or materials that are toxic to goats.
Best Treats and Food Supplements for Goats
Providing your goats with free-choice goat supplements is essential, as it ensures that they are receiving the proper amount of nutrients daily. As mentioned, loose minerals or mineral blocks are the ideal forms of supplementation for goats, as they supply these animals with nutrients such as chlorine, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, vitamins A, D, and E, as well as trace minerals such as copper, cobalt, iron, iodine, manganese, and zinc.
When it comes to treats, desist from feeding too many to goats, as lots of treats encourage weight gain and urinary calculi. Nonetheless, the occasional treat is recommended for keeping your goats happy. Most goat treats come in the form of vegetables and fruits such as:
- Squash
- Sunflower Seeds
- Watermelon
- Apples
- Carrot
- Celery
- Grapes
What to Do if Your Goat Is Not Eating
Goats live to eat, literally.
Therefore, one of the most telling signs of illness in goats is a decrease or lack of appetite. Therefore, if you notice that your goat has not been eating normally, have the animal examined by a vet.
Conclusion
While goats do not require as much care as some animals do, you still need to be knowledgeable about their needs, as that will allow you to keep them happy and productive. Be sure to learn as much as possible about goats to avoid making common mistakes that first-time goat keepers make.
Interested in learning about goat breeds? Check these out!
- Do Miniature Goats Make Good Pets? 15 Things to Know Before Getting One
- Fainting Goats (Myotonic): Facts, Lifespan, Behavior & Care Guide (with Pictures)
- How to Take Care of Pygmy Goats
Featured Image: FitMum, Pixabay
What kind of grain is better to feed goats in the cold season, and what kind to add to the diet in summer
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Pet food / Useful information /
nine0002 Goats for the most part can eat almost any fresh vegetable food and a variety of grains. In the warm season, the easiest way to organize a balanced diet for these animals is to take them out to pasture. All minerals and nutrients are taken from juicy food for full growth. In some cases, feed and other food additives are added.
In summer, the basis of the diet is succulent food
But in the cold season, the basis of the diet is roughage:
- Grains.
- Cake.
- Compound feed.
- Hay.
- Straw.
And today we will talk about what kind of grain to give to goats and in what quantity. We hope this information will be useful to our readers.
The main types of grain that livestock breeders recommend feeding goats are oats, barley and corn. In its pure form or as part of compound feed, these crops allow you to balance the diet of small ruminants. nine0004
In winter, goats are better fed with hay, straw and food additives in the form of cereals
Corn is very nutritious and has excellent taste - it is loved by all herbivores. It is not desirable that its share in the diet be more than 20%.
Oats are a favorite food, balanced in nutritional value and mineral composition.
May occupy 50-70% of the total share.
Cake is nutritious and serves as an excellent nutritional supplement. But it should be soaked for 10-12 hours before giving it to goats.
Also remember that dry food animals must have access to water at all times.
If you have any questions about what grain is best for goats, please contact our managers. They will answer all your questions and tell you where to buy feed grain for your farm. nine0004
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Questions about goats
Nina Andreevna Motina from the Oryol region. asks: “What kind of grain can be given to goats? I have oats, but it is with wild oats, can a goat process it? Is it possible to give potato peelings, raw or boiled? nine0014
Goats can be given any grain, but wheat must first be steamed and preferably crushed. Oats, even in the shell, are excellent food, especially for young animals and goats in the second half of pregnancy. For a better appetite, grains are a good idea to diversify. It is most useful to give mixtures of different grains: oats, barley, wheat, corn, etc. It is not recommended to feed only one type of grain.
Potatoes, like their peels, can be given in any form! Both raw and boiled potatoes are good for goats, but raw is even better, because there are more vitamins.
Of course, it must first be washed, and if the potato is large, cut it into pieces. You can’t give green, ice cream must be boiled. nine0004
Marina Overchenko from Bashkortostan asks for advice: “I've been dreaming of getting a goat for a long time, but I don't dare. Maybe because I didn't find such a milk goat. When I ask about milk yields, they say: 1.5–2 liters per day, or even less.”
I advise you to keep searching. Try advertising in the local newspaper. If you find a half-breed goat (one of the parents of the Saanen breed), then for sure it will give at least 3-4 liters. If there are still no good goats in your area, it is better to spend time and money on a long journey and buy a good animal from a well-known, proven farm. The easiest way is to get a good goat at an early age and raise it yourself. nine0004
Young owners do not have enough knowledge about the care and treatment of pets, and a veterinarian is sometimes far away.
Useful advice. How to properly inject a goat.
The goat needs to be fixed. A milking machine or another person can help with this. Before injection, make sure that there are no air bubbles in the syringe. To do this, holding a disposable syringe with the needle up, lightly press the plunger to release air - a drop of the drug should come out on the needle. nine0004
Intramuscular . The surface before the injection must be treated with alcohol or another disinfectant solution, the hair does not need to be cut. The main thing is to get to the right place. It is located in front between the neck and the front edge of the shoulder blade. The needle is inserted at an angle of 90° to the surface and into the most fleshy place. There is little chance that the needle will hit a blood vessel, nerve, or bone.
The injection itself must be done with a decisive movement, sharply sticking the needle into the muscle at a right angle, approximately 2.
