Thing You Need To Know About Raising Goats
Image by khalampre
This is in response to this photo flickr.com/photos/vshioshvili/599024462/
We were in Bodbe and I saw goats that I joked that I could catch. My wife told me that there was no way, so I use the emergency break, dive out of the car, and chase the goats up the hill. This little guy was the one I caught. Needless to say there is a reason that people say you smell like a goats $ %%.
Article by Justin Case
Raising goats is easy, but not as easy some folks may think. Before they get started raising goats, they may think all there is to it is toss some feed into them and they are done for the day. They tend to believe the cartoons and wild stories of goats “ate the red shirt right off the line and flagged that train down.” type of thing. The truth is, goats cannot and do not eat anything in sight.
Contrary to what may be believed, goats need a very nutritious diet to thrive and do well. Without the right nutrition, goats are prone to all kinds of illness and disease. They should have a quality diet of green pasture, green hay and supplemented with the right kind of grains.
Goats require a high level of protein feed with plenty of minerals and vitamins for keeping goats health stable. Their diets should be high in fiber and plenty of water. Goats drink up to five gallon of water daily.
These needed requirements will vary from the time of the year and for the particular animal. Things to be considered is whether it is a buck or a doe or a kid. How active are they and what is the weather like, hot or cold. Keeping goats well nourished is important to any goat process if it is be successful.
As a rule of thumb, goats will eat almost three percent of their body weight. The most practical choice of feed is pasture grass. It is the most cost effective and usually available. It meets most of the protein needs goats demand. Given the chance goats like to forage on tasty leaves and branches.
Winter time requires additional sources of protein to keep goats warm. For this reason, alfalfa and clover are good protein choices when storing hay. Care should be taken when purchasing hay as its protein level will very with the time of the cutting. When hay blossoms out it causes the protein level to be significantly lowered.
Goats do not store protein in the body. It is either used or expelled through digestion. Supplemental protein can be found in grains, soybeans and cottonseed. Fish meal can also be used, but that may not be an option if you have reservations about feeding meat to goats.
Keep a ready supply of salt and mineral available for your goats to supplement their vitamin and mineral intakes. This can easily be done in block form or in granular buckets.
Goats are clean animals so care must be taken in how they are feed and watered. They will not eat dirty food or drink dirty contaminated water. Do not feed them more than they will eat and do not put it where they can stand or climb on it. Once they have trodden and dirtied on it they will not eat it.
