Goats are very adaptable, and your feed will depend a lot on your individual animal’s genetics, what is locally available to you, your climate, and your goals in keeping goats. There are three main types of feed: Browse, Hay, and grain. In addition, goats need fresh clean water, and it is wise to add loose minerals designed for goats.
Browse
A goat’s natural food is browse. This is shrubbery, broad leaf weeds, grasses, bark, tree leaves, vines, and the like. Goats are not grazers like sheep or cows, but more like deer that prefer weedy, woody, scrubby forage. In the day of the “Lonely Goatherd’, you would move your goats to fresh browse frequently, allowing them to trim up woody areas in terrain that sheep and cows would not forage in. These days, however, your neighbors would likely object to you rampaging a herd of goats through their yards, so we mimic that system with pasture rotation and forage walks.
Hay
When browse is not available, hay is our best alternative. Not all hays are the same. The important thing to note is the difference in calcium between legume hays, like alfalfa, and grass hays like Brome and Timothy. Legume hays tend to be higher in calcium (around 4:1) while grass hays tend to be equal in calcium and phosphorus (1:1), with timothy grass hay being slightly higher in calcium than other grasses (2:1). Hay is also higher in nutrients with subsequent cuttings — a first cut hay is typically less nutritious than a third cutting even of the same field.
Hay and browse should make up the bulk of any goat’s diet. Roughly 80-100% of their intake should be in the form of hay or browse.
Grain, Pellets, and Concentrate Feeds
“Grain” is a general term used to refer to any grain-based feed, whether is it pelletized, ground, a mixture of grains and seeds, etc. Goat pellet feed, COB (corn, oats, and barley), ground mixtures (mash), seeds and whole grains are all lumped together under the term. Grains are not a natural food available to goats — they would get comparatively few seeds and ripe grains on forage walks. The greatest danger with grains and particularly with seeds is an imbalanced calcium to phosphorous ratio. When using grain mixes pay careful attention to the balance of the feed, as well as the balance it makes up in the goat’s total diet.
Grains should make up 20% or less of a goat’s total feed, and not all goats need grains to meet their caloric needs.
A pet goat, or a dry goat, do not usually require any grain. Browse and Hay (plus mineral supplements and water) are sufficient. There are some animals that will require the extra calories provided by Grain:
- Pregnant Does, especially in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy.
- Nursing Does or does being milked.
- Pack animals required to “work” carrying heavy loads.
- Bucks in Rut
- Very Old Goats
- Kids under 6 months of age – because they are growing so fast.
Grain would also be added when you are trying to “finish” a goat to be sold for meat.
How Much to feed?
Usually, Hay, Browse, and Minerals are offered free choice. You Need to use your goats body condition score to know whether to increase or decrease the grain rations. You want your goats to be a healthy weight. Just looking at the goats is not enough; you will need to palpate the sternum and spine to determine the body condition.
This article from Langston University explains Body Condition Score for Goats.
What Minerals do Goats Need?
Your goats should be provided with free access to a complete goat mineral supplement. The important minerals that will be included in the supplement are:
- mineralized salt
- dicalcium phosphate
- Calcium
- Phosphorus
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Iron
- Iodine
- Zinc
You might also need:
- Selenium
- Copper
You will want to have your soil tested to know whether your soil is deficient in any of these minerals.
The ratio of Calcium to Phosphorus is of vital importance to goat health, as too much phosphorous can result in urinary calculi. Urinary calculi are particularly a problem with wethers. While less common, too much calcium can result in kidney stones. Goats do well with 2-4 times as much calcium as phosphorous, in their total diet. That means taking into account your pasture browse (typically 1:1), your hay (alfalfa hay 4:1 for instance) and your grain ration. (most are 2:1, but sunflower seeds for instance are 1:7!) The Ideal ratio for Goats is between 2:1 and 4:1
This USDA article explains it very well. It can get quite complicated because increasing any one mineral can influence the absorption and/or utilization of the other minerals.
