Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
We bring hay in as needed so our goats have constant access to roughage as they desire. We'll wrap this
round bale with a cattle panel to keep the goats from wasting it and spoiling it.
The feed you provide consists of two basic types.
Roughage
is the high-fiber feed from browsing on
bushes and shrubs, from eating grass, or from hay.
Concentrates
are supplementary and make up
a smaller portion but are grains that are super high in energy, protein, and often in trace minerals
needed for total health.
We offer grass hay free choice to our herd. They will barely touch it during the spring and summer
when they are able to browse on the blackberries, honeysuckles, and other growing plants. But dur-
ing the winter when growth slows down, they eat a lot more of the grass hay.
For feed grains you can supplement your herds with barley, corn, oats, and other grains. You can
buy feed mixes specifically for goats and sheep also, which is a great way to start out. Be sure that
when you are feeding commercial mixes you do not try to feed your goat mix to your sheep. Sheep
should not have the copper minerals that are present in commercial goat feed mixes.
thOrny MatterS
When you feed commercial feed mixes made for goats, you cannot give that same feed to your sheep.
Sheep should not have copper in their mineral blocks, feed mixes, or food supplements, while goats do
need trace amounts of copper. Feed your animals separately to avoid problems!
In general, you can assume that your goats and sheep will eat about 2 percent of their body weight
in dry feed. So my 125-pound La Mancha doe will eat about 2
1
⁄
2
pounds worth of hay and feed
each day. Within that feed amount, at least 8 to 10 percent of her daily intake should be protein.
In the last two months of her pregnancy, when the majority of growth occurs in the kids, her
