To all you Goat owners...what do you feed your goats daily?

[Coco]

We feed our 2 goats 4 small scoops of sweet grain in the morning and evening. And we supplement with hay and sometimes a bucket of fresh picked green grass, clover and dead leaves we find on the ground. Of course they have a fresh bucket of water daily. What do you feed your goats??

 

[MissPrissy]

I have dairy goats. My goats get a caprine challenger feed and a ration of sweet feed. They have hay and alfalfa cubes. They forage daily for leaves and brush. Lots of clean water. We often have something we take to them daily - a piece of fruit or vegetable from the fridge or something sweet. They like a sweet treat and my largest doe has more than one sweet tooth!

 

[helmstead]

Our goat's primary diet is grass hay supplemented with a mix we make of medicated goat pellets, beet pulp and premium grains (not incl. corn). We also supplement when needed with BOSS. Goats in milk are supplemented with alfalfa pellets.

 

[Tutter]

Ration of grain, hay, alfalfa, brush and grass/meadow forage, and all sorts of produce treats from the kitchen and garden.

I have a tip. Even if your goats don't need grain, always give them a little. Put it in a coffee can or something like that, and shake it before giving it to them. Especially in the evenings.

It makes it a lot easier to have them come to you, if they get loose, or, in a worse case scenario, and you don't find them, have them wander home in the evening, because they know it's time for their treat. If you're out looking for them, call as usual, and shake a can of sweet COB, or whatever you use.

I've only had it happen once in 19 years, but I was certainly glad that I'd taken the precaution when it did!

 

[Tutter]

I'm sorry, looking back at your post, I see that I neglected the water.

Yes, we give clean water at all times.

As for the leaves, they do love them. When the leaves begin falling off the trees, brown and dry, they stare up and wait for them to come down, especially the oak leaves. We call them goat potato chips.

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

I feed mine a goat mix I buy at my local feed store. It appears to be a mix of sweet feed with oats and corn.

 

[CarolinaGirl]

My goats get grass hay as their main diet plus a scoop of medicated goat chow. I usually give them a fruit or veggie a day also. They love apple slices and raisins especially.

 

[gila_dog]

I take them out several times a week to hike, climb hills, jump around on rocks, and eat browse. Here that's juniper trees, pine trees, oak brush, salt bush, mesquite, yucca, weeds, stickers, cactus, etc, while trying to keep them away from my wife's roses, fruit trees, the haystack, etc. When I'm too busy or lazy to take them out I feed them hay that's a mixture of grass and alfalfa, some non-sweet COB (3 way, corn-oats-barley), and kitchen vegetable scraps. I have read someplace that sweet feed isn't good for goats, at least not for wethers. I have 3 wethers that I use as packgoats. These guys are in goat heaven. Especially when you realize that my 3 and one other buck were the only buck survivors from a dairy's spring kid crop. All the others were eaten.

 

[greyfields]

I give my lactating females alfalfa pellets to supplement them. Other than that, it's blackberries and brush.

 

[Moonwalker]

All that nice green stuff out there and they just LOVE those dried leaves!
Mine get pelleted goat feed from TSC and grass hay free choice and I try to let them out for a while every night when I get home and for several hours on my days off. I haven't planted my garden yet, but will soon have to come up with some way to keep them out of it.
They still get 2 bottles a day, before I go to work and when I get home. (they are worse than the dogs, they start yelling when they hear my car on the road)