If you are sincerely looking to do the best job possible managing your herd and just need some support, most folks are happy to offer a bit of guidance or are able to tell you someone who could help. This person will be invaluable to you, a goldmine of helpful information!Īsk around. Get help from someone who makes sense to you and is doing what you are planning to do with the type of goats you have. You’ll get experience as you learn and grow, but experience comes from messing up as well as succeeding, so why not limit the messing up by getting help from someone with experience?įeed is particularly regional, some things that work great for me are not a practical answer for someone else who live in a very different situation or has completely different genetics than me. Find a goat mentor to get you started off rightīefore we go any further, you should look around your community, even an extended community, like a trusted group online, and find someone you can “talk goat” with. Nutritional Feeding Management Of Meat Goats is a NC State Extension article that goes into what is a high quality feed for goats and why goats need better feed than other ruminants, like sheep or cattle. The idea that goats can eat anything and do well is not true!Įven the working goats that are out eating “scrub” or brushy areas are actually eating the nice growing points of the brush, that’s where the energy is!
#Best goat hay feeder full#
Goats need a high quality diet full of goat appropriate nutrition, especially for any goat kids.
I know this is an article about feed, but knowing when your doe is due to have her babies is a big question in most new goat owner’s minds, so I thought this would help, or at least give you a better idea of what to look for with your goats! Goats need high quality feed Get goats that match your plans or adjust your plans to match your goats. If you want to manage them in a different way than they need to be managed, you have the wrong goats, they don’t fit you and your situation. Once you get “in the trenches” you may find your herd requires different management than you had planned on providing. One piece of advice, before we go further: be willing to change. This will involve research on your part, to figure out the specifics and a watchful eye to monitor your herd to see how your feeding plans are working! So, here are some overall guidelines to help you get started. What your goats need depends on so many factors, a few of which are:įor anyone to tell you, “oh, you just blah, blah, blah” is way too simplistic! Goats vary so much in genetics, management and feed situations that a blanket “one size fits all” recommendation is misleading. This is the part where some folks are going to be frustrated, because the truthful answer to what should you feed your goats is: you guessed it, it depends.Īre Meat Goats Profitable? is an article that I wrote to help you figure out the basic costs of raising your own herd of goats. Grain for goats: kids and lactating does need higher quality feed (14% protein) and maintenance goats need less, more like 10-11% protein, given in the amount required to keep goat in good condition with a shiny hair coat.
#Best goat hay feeder free#
Those two views are polar opposites, so, which is correct? How should you feed your goats?Ī general recommendation for feeding goats is free choice water, grass hay and for most goats, grain. Some folks say “just let those goats eat brush and forage for their keep” others say “give the goats a pelleted ration and some high test hay, that pasture is just for exercise”. Trust that your animals will adjust over time and settle into a balanced weight.Now that you have decided to get a few goats, you’ll need to figure out what you should be feeding them.
Trickle Feeding means having a constant supply of forage available at all times. Empty them out so your animals can clean it up. Hay becomes harder to get out as the bag empties due to all the broken bits. Quick drops in temperature and very cold weather can require your animals to need additional loose hay.ĭon’t let your Handy Hay Net run out. Pull some hay through the netting to help them get the idea. As they adjust, they use their teeth and lips to pull the hay through the holes.ĭon’t pack the bag too tight or they won't be able to get the hay out. Hungry animals will often paw or bite through the netting. It can take anywhere from a week to a month for animals to really get the hang of eating from our hay nets, but most people find that when they do, they prefer their bags to loose hay! We recommend 3/4 of what you would normally feed in addition to the hay bag.
Never feed a hay bag if your animal is hungry as this will cause stress.
When you first introduce animals to slow feeder hay bags, make sure there is loose hay available as well.
#Best goat hay feeder pdf#
Download the pdf of this guide here and keep a copy out at the barn.
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