The Goat Diet

This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small commission if a purchase is made through my link which is at no cost to you.

Always change or increase feed slowly. Adding probiotics if you have sensitive goats to prevent upsetting the bacteria balance in the rumen.

I like Probios Probiotic

In this post, I will go over the complete goat diet. Feeding goats will become routine and easy once you find the right combination of elements for your herd. For the most part, the goat diet can be broken down into 4 components; grass hay, pasture, grain and/or alfalfa, and treats. Below I lay out a good ratio of each.

Grass Hay: 50%
Pasture: 25%
Grain/alfalfa: 20%
Treats: 5% or less

The natural goat diet

Before I go into the 4 components above, I think it's important to look at what goats were meant to eat before they were domesticated and placed in a farm setting. Goats were never really meant to eat grass and grain. Wild goats live in rocky terrain where the only surviving plants are sturdy shrubs that eke out an existence on the cliffs of mountains. Goats are foragers which means they are always on the move, nibbling as they go. A wild goat would not stay put in the same place all day eating grass down to the ground. The rocky landscape is also high in minerals and salts. As stewards of our herd, it is our responsibility to mimic this natural diet the best way we can using practical means available to modern homesteaders.

The goat diet angora goat eating pasture

Grass hay

A full-grown goat will eat around 3-5% of its body weight in hay each day. A square bale of hay, on average, weighs around 60 lbs. Our Nubian does weigh around 180 lbs, they eat about 4 pounds of hay per day. It's good to know these numbers so that you can store up enough hay for winter. In our area, hay runs out for the season. We often have to contact several different farmers to supplement what we get off our own field.

These percentages will change as winter comes and pasture becomes dormant. Goats will consume around 25% more hay in the winter.

Our goats always have access to grass hay. They are welcome to eat free choice. Hay is not only the staple food for goats, it mimics the natural food a goat would eat in the wild. It helps to balance the rumen and encourages fermentation needed for healthy digestion.

Most grass hay protein falls around 7–8%

You can have your hay analyzed for nutritional content and protein percentage. Contact your local extension for help with this.

Hay vs straw

I often hear new goat owners using the terms hay and straw interchangeably and I cringe. Hay is food, straw is bedding.

I like to think of hay as dehydrated pasture. Hay is dried field grass that is cut, dried in the sun, and baled. It should be a dull green color. You will often see a mixture of different grasses, like Timothy, Orchard Grass, Canary Grass, and even some weeds. A flake of hay is usually about 4 inches thick and can be used as a measurement to determine feed amount. Flakes of hay come off at a natural breaking point in a bale where the hay baler pounded the dried grass into the compacter.

Straw, on the other hand, is the stem of the harvested wheat plant. After the wheat has been harvested, the stalks serve as a second crop in the form of straw used for bedding. Straw has little to no nutritional value. Goats may nibble on it occasionally but it should only be used for bedding, not food. Straw is golden in color, should be shiny, and comprised of hollow tubes of fiber. The slipperiness of straw makes for perfect bedding as waste runs off of it to the ground and the top stays clean and dry for the animals to lay in. The hollow tubes also trap warmth and work as an insulator.

Brown hay, old hay, moldy hay

There are a lot of factors that determine the quality of hay that you might buy. The weather, the type of grasses being harvested, how long the hay sat in the field drying, did it get rained on, whether it was baled wet, how was it stored after being baled, was it first or second cutting? These will all affect the quality and nutritional aspects of the hay.

We hay our own field and most years we get enough to feed our animals until the next hay season. Since we've added a cow, I find that we are buying hay toward the end of the season because we're going through a lot more.

First and second cuttings

First-cutting hay is going to be less nutritious than a second or any additional cuttings. This first cutting is stalkier and is higher in fiber, lacking protein. Most of the time first cutting will yield more, but will be less green and less useful overall. Springtime is wet season around us and that tends to make cutting, "drying" and baling tricky. If it won't stop raining, the cut hay won't dry and that usually means waiting until the grass has gone to seed before we get good enough weather to cut. If the grass has gone to seed before being cut the production of those seeds takes away even more from the carbohydrate and protein content of the plant.

The second cutting is going to be more nutritious and greener. The plants tend to be "fuller", shorter and will have a much better protein content with less fiber than that of first cuttings. Bales of second cuttings in our experience are denser and heavier too. You'll find second or third cutting priced higher and tends to sell out before first as well.

Pasture

Goats will do well in a variety of living situations, but I believe that they are happiest when they have ample pasture available. The best pasture for goats is a variety of shrubbery, small bushes, weeds, and bramble. If you can provide this for your goats then they will be very happy indeed! However, for many of us in a farm-type setting, pasture means grass.

While goats will enjoy eating grass, it is a little too rich for their systems. Grass pasture must be introduced gradually. In the spring when the field starts greening up. We allow our goats out for an hour at a time until they get used to this new food again after being deprived over the winter. It takes about a week or so for their systems to acclimate to the grass. If introduced too much at a time, they will develop scours (diarrhea).

Wet pasture can also cause diarrhea and can be a perfect breeding ground for worms. So limit exposure to pasture during seasons of heavy rain.

Grain and alfalfa

Goats were never meant to eat grain. In nature, goats would have a hard time finding a mix of oats, corn, soybeans, and sweet molasses. However, because we don't all live on a mountainside, we have to improvise. Grain is an easy and practical way to ensure that your goats are getting a balanced diet and most of their nutritional needs are met each day.

We feed a 17% protein sweet feed designed for goats. There are also medicated feeds available that include Coccidiosis preventatives.

Check manufacturer packaging for serving size by weight, or check with your veterinarian.

If you feed a sweet feed to male goats, be sure to read below about preventing Urinary Calculi, which is sometimes caused by sweet feeds. Some feed blends add ammonium chloride as a preventative. We add it through our mineral regimen.

Alfalfa is a very rich fodder and is a dehydrated legume. Its protein content is about double that of grass hay.

Alfalfa protein is around 16%, which is similar to that of most manufactured grain blends, and is high in calcium and phosphorus. Some goat owners can eliminate the need for grain with alfalfa and good pasture. Alfalfa should not be fed on a free-choice basis but portioned into flakes by weight depending on the goat’s size and nutritional needs. 3-4% body weight is a good serving of alfalfa. If allowed too much alfalfa, it can cause serious health problems including bloat and scours.

Treats

Treats are a great training tool to use with your goats. They can also help to strengthen the bond and relationship you have with your herd. However, treats should be given in moderation. Below is a list of good treat choices for goats.

organic banana peels, apples, raspberry leaves, sweet peppers, sunflower seeds, carrots, pumpkin, leaf lettuce, willow branches, and melon.

Manna Pro brand also sells a goat-specific treat that our herd enjoys.

Things that are toxic to goats

Meat- Goats cannot digest any animal products

Potatoes- Potatoes are in the nightshade family and contain a chemical called solanine which is toxic to goats

Avocado- Avocados contain persin which is toxic to goats. All parts of the avocado are unsafe to feed goats

Fruit pits- Stone fruits like peaches, plums, apricots, and cherries have a pit in the center. These pits contain a compound that turns into cyanide when digested.

Chocolate- chocolate contains caffeine which is toxic to goats. It also contains a lot of sugar which is unhealthy.

Minerals

Goats are instinctive when it comes to knowing what minerals they need. In the wild, goats get their minerals from the soil, the plants they eat, and the rocky terrain in which they live. We offer our goats a goat-specific loose mineral. Loose means it comes in a granular form like table salt. Loose minerals are easier for the goat to consume. We offer this free choice, which means they have access to minerals at all times. I really recommend that you use a goat-specific mineral as opposed to an all-stock type mineral. Goats need more copper and selenium in their diet to be healthy. Most all stock formulas are lower in copper because high copper levels are toxic to sheep.

It's also important to make sure that your mineral choice includes ammonium chloride to help prevent Urinary Calculi in males. Urinary Calculi is caused by an improper calcium to phosphorus ratio in feed. It causes crystallization in the urinary tract and can be deadly.

We offer Manna Pro Goat Mineral

In addition to free-choice minerals, we keep a few Billy Blocks up for our goats to lick. It's sort of a backup mineral option. Billy blocks are goat-specific compressed mineral blocks that your goats can lick when they need minerals. Minerals are especially important to horn, hoof, coat, and body condition.

Talk to your vet about the addition of copper bolus, selenium, and vitamin B complex as part of your mineral routine. (I will have a post up in the future specifically about goats and minerals.)

Water

Water must be impeccably clean or goats will not drink it. They will allow themselves to become dehydrated before drinking dirty water. Clean water pails regularly and keep cool fresh water available at all times.