Baby Goats Refuse to Eat Grain. Help?

[Caitlin2013]

I have 2 baby goats that refuse to eat their grain. They love their hay, they love their grass, they love their treats, but they refuse to eat their grain. They even refuse to take a bottle now. I have them on Meat Goat Grower, well at least I'm trying to have them on it, but they just wont have anything to do with it. I'm just worried that their not getting a fully rounded diet. They are gaining weight and growing and they don't act like their hungry but I would love it if they would just eat their grain as they need it. Does anyone have any tips on how to get them interested in their grain? I'm running out of ideas here!

 

[Stacykins]

Just keep offering it, a little bit (like, less than a handful to reduce waste) They might not like the taste. Maybe use a sweeter feed (like purina goat chow) and once they like it, wean them onto your other grain? I actually mix a sweet goat grain into a non sweet goat grain in equal amounts. It satisfies their 'sweet tooth', but the non sweet grain has a better mineral mix.

Are they eating hay too? I know you said they're eating grass, but you should also be sure to offer them hay. It helps keep their rumen working well. And it is wise to let them have some hay in the morning before turning them out to pasture. I've lost a goat to pasture (frothy) bloat before, it is not pleasant...

Are you also offering them loose minerals? Leave it in a dry, accessible place for them to lick up as needed. It helps them meat their mineral needs. Salt lick type mineral blocks don't really give them what they need. They get mostly NaCl (salt) from it, but not the other trace minerals in the amounts they need.

I found bottle kids have a hard time learning to eat grain. They just don't know it is food. Dam raised kids learn from their mothers. My most recent batch of kids, who I let their mother raise, were mouthing grain as young as week (they weren't eating it yet though). Now the one girl I still have devours it with gusto now that she is over two months old. The bottle kids I raised, it took them forever to learn about grain being awesome. I just gave the grain they wasted to my chickens every day.

 

[Caitlin2013]

Okay, I'll give that a go! Thank you very much for the advice.

As for the loose minerals, do you just leave it in a bowl for them or do you mix it with their food? Also, what kind of minerals should I look at getting for them? I was told that they get all their needed minerals from the salt licks which they absolutely love.

 

[Stacykins]

Okay, I'll give that a go! Thank you very much for the advice.

As for the loose minerals, do you just leave it in a bowl for them or do you mix it with their food? Also, what kind of minerals should I look at getting for them? I was told that they get all their needed minerals from the salt licks which they absolutely love.

I personally use manna pro loose goat minerals, but there are plenty of other brands out there. There is very little table salt (NaCl) in the mixture, rather, it has everything else they need more more appropriate amounts.

Those salt blocks are truly just that, table salt, NaCl. Maybe with a tiny amount of other minerals, but not enough of them for a goat. The goats get a lot of table salt from it, but not enough selenium, copper, zinc, etc. They really do like it, likely because they aren't getting much from it, so they have to devour it to meet their mineral needs.

I have a small feed pan that is attached to the inside of the shed I use for my goats. It stays out of the wind and rain. I fill it up as they need. I do not add it directly to their feed. They can self regulate their intake.

The reason I keep specifying NaCl is because the minerals in the loose minerals are in salt form (like magnesium sulfate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite, etc. ). A salt is just an ionic compound, and many minerals are found in salt form in nature, it is more stable. For instance, copper sulfate is a salt...but trying to put a sprinkle of it over cooking would...likely poison a person.

 

[farmchick897]

Make sure the grain is not old or moldy. They may sense something is wrong with it..?

 

[nok13]

we taught ours by placing a few pellets or loose amounts of grain in their mouth... i mean just a small small amount. often they will chew a bit and discover that it is tasty, and go for more. the other thing is, that one animal will want to eat what another is eating : the law of competition. this also encourages sick or weak animals to eat... if they see others eating, even if they cant actually compete to eat the food, they will check the food out after everyone else has eaten (an you can keep the others away to let the younger/weaker ones eat)...