Feeding Nigerian goats in winter

Jul 3, 2018
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516
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Ohio
We started out small hobby farm this summer and currently have 13 chickens and 3 Nigerians dwarf goats. Since there is not much forage available for them in Ohio in the winter i was curious what others do.

We feed a very small portion of grain AM and PM. And then we stuff a slow feeder with hay for the day. Usually holds one flake and some extra.

I read somewhere that goats should not have hay available at night or they might eat themselves to death?!? Maybe that was baby goats.

2 females and one wether. All just under a year.
 
We started out small hobby farm this summer and currently have 13 chickens and 3 Nigerians dwarf goats. Since there is not much forage available for them in Ohio in the winter i was curious what others do.

We feed a very small portion of grain AM and PM. And then we stuff a slow feeder with hay for the day. Usually holds one flake and some extra.

I read somewhere that goats should not have hay available at night or they might eat themselves to death?!? Maybe that was baby goats.

2 females and one wether. All just under a year.
My goats have hay all day long and grain available most of the day. If they aren’t out then they always have hay and grain available. One of my goats is pregnant and so she eats lots of food. In the winter I’ll let the goats eat more then in the summer
 
I have hay available all day and night. Grain than can eat too much and end up with bloat (which can possibly kill them)if you have it available all day. Some won’t but some would. Mine would eat the whole 50 lb bag if I let them. I know mine would. Eating hay helps keep the body temperature up in winter. I’ve heard too much hay that is “rich” like alfalfa is bad all the time but I don’t know. Mine only get alfalfa sometimes
 
Hay should be available 24/7 year round. Now that winter is here I started giving my NGs goat feed (2 cups feed and 2 cups pellets for 2 goats) one a day in addition to the hay. They are outside during the day but with not much around for browsing I wanted to supplement. I can't begin to imagine how mad they will be st me when I stop giving it to them in the spring lol
 
My miniature goats (Pygmy, Nigerian and mixes) are getting hay twice a day, but in larger amounts when it's this cold. They get occasional scoops of sweet feed -- mostly to lure Tessa back into the pen when she has once again confounded me with her ability to find some imperceptible (to me) escape route from the pasture. I have learned to stand inside the pasture, shake the scoop of sweet feed (which I ALWAYS use in Very Small Quantities) and wait for the onslaught of goats to surround me. At that point, Tessa will raise her head, stop eating the remnants of the neighbor's bean field and race back home to join the fray.

I am extremely cautious about my goats' access to grain because my first little wether (and truly one of the loves of my life) and his "brother" both developed blockages that prevented them from urinating. I understand, from some expensive veterinary treatment, that it likely happened from too much grain too early.

And while I am completely devoted to my poultry, is there anything in the world cuter than a baby goat?
 

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