How to Feed and Tend Goats on Small Farms

If you’re starting a goat herd, you must know some basics about the animals you’re tending, including how to feed them properly. Whether raising goats for meat, establishing a dairy herd, or practicing sustainable living on your homestead or small farm, you’ll need to give your goats the attention they need to thrive.

One good rule of thumb for feeding and tending goats: don’t drastically change the animals’ diet all at once, even when you learn how you might better feed them. Don’t feed them large amounts of new food, either. Both of these practices can lead to a major digestive upset for your goats. Change their diets slowly, giving the bacteria in their rumen (their first stomach, made for the initial step in digesting the plants they eat) time to adjust.

Below is some advice for what and how to feed the goats on your homestead or farm.

Range: Browsing and Pasturing Goats

Goats are well-known for their ability to pasture on anything, from lovely green grass to scrubby woods where they can eat young trees and hardy shrubs. They’re browsers, not grazers (for example, cattle, sheep, and horses are grazing species), meaning they’re excellent at clearing rough, overgrown land.

Let go of the myth—if you’ve heard it—that goats make good “lawnmowers.” They’d prefer to browse if given a choice.

Goats are ruminants, animals who eat plants and digest them through a four-compartment stomach. However, the animals are more like deer than sheep or cattle—which eat lots of grass—regarding nutrition. Goats shouldn’t eat a diet of entirely fresh grass.

Hay

Hay is the main source of goat’s nutrients apart from their range. (it’s what they mostly eat in the winter when they don’t have access to the range). You can give your goats grass or legume hay, such as clover or alfalfa.

Each goat needs about two to four pounds of hay daily, minus what they might forage on while at pasture. You can feed hay freely or offer it strictly twice a day.

If you can’t make a good range available for your goats, horse-quality dry grass hay is acceptable. Goats require hay (roughage) for their rumen to function properly. The long fiber is necessary for this. The rumen is the first stomach compartment, rich in live bacteria, that begins to digest the fiber. A healthy goat has a large rumen that feels spongy.

Alfalfa hay is also popular for feeding goats and has more protein, vitamins, and minerals than grass hays, typically. It can be a good choice for feeding milkers as it has more calcium as well.

Chaffhaye

Chaffhaye is made by cutting early alfalfa or grass, chopping it, mixing it with molasses and a probiotic culture called bacillus subtilis and vacuum-packing it. The hay ferments in the container, adding beneficial bacteria for the goats’ rumens. Chaffhaye can be fed as a hay alternative, with more nutrient density than hay. One 50-pound bag of chaffhaye equals roughly 85 to 100 lb of hay.

Grain Feed

Grain feed or pelleted grain mix can add protein, vitamins, and minerals to your goats’ diet. Most farmers supplement with grain feed when necessary—such as does who are raising multiple kids or in bad weather—but foraging and browsing are the foundation of good goat nutrition. Grain should not be overfed: it can make goats fat, cause illness and even death.

Some goat farmers like to have a livestock nutritionist formulate a goat pellet for use when supplements are needed. The local livestock nutritionist can tailor the feed to your area conditions, minimizing problems. You can also have your hay tested to add to the information that your livestock nutritionist will use for formulating this feed.

Minerals

Loose minerals formulated for goats should be offered free choice. Feed minerals individually, not in blocks that contain combinations of them.

Kitchen and Garden Scraps

Goats will do fine eating your compost, for the most part. Egg shells can be problematic, but most other basic kitchen and garden compost is fine for goats as long as they’re used to it.

Raisins and corn chips, just a few, or a slice of bread, make nice “treats” for goats but don’t overdo them.

Feeding Equipment

You will also need some equipment for feeding your goats. Nothing fancy, but storing hay in a manger will help goats access it and waste less. And food containers or buckets will also help reduce waste. Metal or plastic feed storage containers with tight-fitting lids will keep pests out of your feed.

For your goats you may need:

• Feed storage containers
• Food buckets
• Water buckets
• Hay manger
• Mineral feeder

Water

Of course, your goats need access to fresh, clean water at all times. You may want to raise your water bucket off the ground onto a platform or in an old tire, so it’s less likely to get kicked over or pooped in. In winter, you will need to use a water heater so that your goats’ water isn’t freezing cold and doesn’t turn to ice.