Goat Care Basics~ feeding & "browse rotations"

Goats will both graze pasture and browse woodland. We believe it is healthier for the goats to be allowed access to browse. We also believe it can have a positive impact on the humans who consume the milk (& cheese) from goats who browse the native/local flora.  The added bonus is that it will cost less to feed them. 

The one thing we have learned, however, is that giving them access to as much property as you have available for them, at all times, is not the best land practice. Either one of two things will happen. First is that the land they travel often will be denuded. Most goat pens, just like horse paddocks, are pretty much barren ground. It does not matter how big the area is, it will be trampled & bare.  Or, if they have access to a very large area, they will eat all their favorite things first, usually to the point where they no longer grow/set seed/recover. This will eventually lead to an area that has nothing but things that goats do not like to eat; because those are the only plants that go to seed & therefor come back. (BTW, goats can do a great job at clearing that defensible space for you, all you have to do is fence them in the right amount of space for the right amount of time.)

We can not really call what we do "pasture rotation" because it is really oak woodland not pasture, but the same principle applies. The goat barn is in a rather central location with a pen area that the girls have access to all the time. Around the barn, we have fenced off several areas of various sizes that we allow them access to on a rotation. How we rotate & the timing of it is not done by the calendar but by the condition of the plants. We keep the goats out long enough for the plants to recover from being browsed. We allow the girls access for enough days that they are "forced" to eat the not-so-favorite plants, too. Not sure how well these pics will come through, but this grass is about 8-10 inches tall before and about 3-4 inches after. 

  

Before. The girls have not been in this area for 

about a week.  

  

After a day of grazing. We will let them out here for a few more days, then shut them out again.

     

This is a great way to supplement feed, and it can even be the main source of fiber if you have enough room &/or enough water to irrigate. But if you want your girls to really put the milk in the bucket, or if you only have the minimum space, you are going to have to feed them.

So what do we feed? Well, first of all, we are in a mediterranean climate here in California; we do not stock up hay for the winter, we stock up hay for the dry season. There is usually enough to meet their fiber requirements during the rainy season (roughly October to May) but we do keep a few bales around just in case. In the winter, when they are getting mostly browse & little hay, we also feed them a concentrated ration just to assure they are getting good quality protein & vitamins. This is when they are all pregnant so we need to make sure they have adequate nutrition not just for themselves but for growing kids.

In the late spring/early summer, when the local growers have good grain hay available (usually triple mix) I try to buy enough hay to get me through the dry months.

So, that is what we feed. Local browse, triple mix hay as needed, and Elk grove Milling's Goat mix. How much do we feed? That is hard to say because it varies so much. In the winter the 14 does (11 minis and 3 Nubians) get about 2 flakes of hay in the morning and about 12 pounds of EGM Goat mix. In the evening, if they have eaten all the hay, they get another flake or 2, and another 12-18 pounds (depending on how fat they are looking :) of EGM. In the summer, when the forage is just about gone, they get as much hay as they want, one to 2 full bales some days. The EGM is given on the milk stand, so only milkers get it this time of year.


So back to the question I get asked most often: How much does it cost to feed a mini Nubian? The bales I buy vary between 100-120 lbs. The cost varies from $4 to $11 a bale depending on the time of year & quantity I buy. If you are only feeding 2 goats ( you should never keep one goat alone) I am guessing they would not eat more than the smallest flake you could get off a bale. So way less than $1 a day in hay. If they are milking you should also give them a concentrated feed. The EGM Goat mix I buy in a 250 lb barrel. It cost about 16 cents per pound and each milking goat gets 1-2 lbs depending on her weight & how much milk she is giving. So still, probably less than $1 a day for the 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon of milk you will get. Plus all the love & entertainment Minis provide. Priceless. :)