What to Feed Your Goats

Before you get your goats, you need to make sure you have all the feeding equipment they need, as well as a stockpile of food. All goats need certain kinds of feed, but they have differing nutritional requirements depending on their gender and what stage of life they're in.

Goats are browsers, like deer, which means they prefer trees, bushes, and woody weeds; rather than standing still and eating grass down to the roots, they like to stay on the move, eating a bit of this and a bit of that. Goats can learn to graze a pasture, but don't expect it to be "mowed." The grass helps supplement the goats' diet, but low grazing also can spread parasites.

Goats have specific nutritional needs, only some of which are met by the plants on your farm that they browse on. You have to provide feed for the needs that can't be met by browsing. Unless you have a lot of property with a variety of browse, feed will be your biggest expense in raising goats. Don't scrimp on goat feed — it will pay dividends in good health, milk production, and lower veterinary bills.

Feeding hay and alfalfa
Hay is the main source of nutrients for goats in non-grazing seasons, or all the time if they don't have access to browse. Grass hay provides a moderate amount of protein and energy for the goat diet. Legume hays, such as clover and alfalfa, usually have more protein, vitamins, and minerals, particularly calcium, than grass hays. This varies depending on the maturity of the hay or alfalfa and the way that it's cured and stored.

Each goat needs 2 to 4 pounds of hay each day, although some of this need can be met by available pasture or other forage. Make it available free choice throughout the day when pasture is unavailable or feed twice a day when goats are also browsing.

You can feed alfalfa (and some grass hays) in pellet form if you don't have storage or if you want to mix it with grain. The goats don't waste so much alfalfa when it's in pellets, and you can limit who gets it by combining it with their grain.

Using chaffhaye instead of hay and alfalfa
Chaffhaye is forage in a bag and substitutes for hay. To make chaffhaye, producers cut early alfalfa or grass, chop it, mist it with molasses, add the culture bacillus subtillis, and vacuum-pack it into 50-pound bags. The treated hay ferments in the bag, adding good bacteria that's easy for goats to digest. It provides more energy, vitamins, and minerals than dried hay.

Goats need up to 2 pounds of chaffhaye per 100 pounds of body weight when you feed it as an alternative to hay. The nutritional value of one 50-pound bag of chaffhaye is equivalent to an 85- to 100-pound bale of good-quality hay.

Feeding grain
Grain or pelleted grain mixes add protein, vitamins, and minerals to a goat's diet. Some are formulated specifically for goats. Grain options include the following:

Whole grain: This is the whole, unprocessed grain seed head.

Pelleted grain: A product made from grain or grain byproducts milled into small pieces and then made into pellets by adding a binding agent.

Rolled grain: Nutritionally identical to whole grain, rolled grain is simply rolled so that it's flat.

Texturized grain: Similar to rolled grain, texturized feed mixes usually have other ingredients added to improve nutrition.

How to Build a Mineral Block Holder for Your Goats

Goats need mineral supplements to stay healthy. Here's an easy way to build a mineral block feeder yourself. This is a really simple idea for a wooden mineral block holder that keeps the mineral block off the ground and also covers the top of it, so when those kids start jumping they just land on wood. You can buy the wood for this, or make it from pieces you have lying around. The inside dimensions (10 1/2 inches) are important because that's the minimum required to hold a standard-size mineral block. (You can make it larger, if you want.) You need a solid post or wall to attach it to.

You can build a simple mineral block holder.
To make the mineral block holder, you need the following equipment and materials:

Hand saw or circular saw

Drill

Pencil

Yardstick or other measure

Carpenters' square

Level

One eight-foot long untreated 2 x 6 board

One sheet of 3/4-inch untreated plywood

56 3-inch deck screws

12 1 1/2-inch flat-head screws

To make your own mineral block holder, follow these steps:

Measure your 2 x 6 and mark with pencil at 12-inch intervals.

Use the carpenters' square to make sure the ends are even. (Note: You can make the top section from a 2 x 4, but you need to use a 2 x 6 for the bottom so the mineral block can rest on it.)

With your saw, cut eight 12-inch pieces from your 2 x 6 for the sides.

Measure your plywood.

Mark two 13 1/2-inch by 13 1/2-inch pieces for the top and bottom

Mark two 6 1/2-inch by 16-inch pieces for the top and bottom braces, which will be cut at a 45-degree angle

Cut all the pieces of plywood.

Using eight screws (two for each corner), screw together four of the 12-inch 2 x 6 pieces to make a 13 1/2-inch square.

To make the box square, make sure each piece of wood is attached on the inside on one end and the outside on the other.

Attach the first piece of plywood to the top of the square with 12 screws.

Assemble the bottom section by repeating Steps 5 and 6.

Using a level to ensure that it is even, attach the top and bottom sections to the post or wall with eight screws each so the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom are 16 inches apart.

Attach the bottom piece 14 inches from the ground or higher. The plywood should be on top for the top piece and on the bottom for the bottom piece. Don't situate it too high or too low for your goats to comfortably eat the mineral.

Place the top brace with one against the center of the plywood "top" and the other against the post at a 45-degree angle and attach with three screws on each end.

Place the bottom brace with one end against the plywood "bottom" and one end against the post at a 45-degree angle and attach with three screws on each end.

To make a better fit, you can cut the end.

Angora Meat Goats

Angora Meat Goats are a medium sized breed that grows very long curly coats, known as mohair. These Angora Meat Goats are of Turkish origin. Angoras are fairly laid back and docile but not very hardy.

Angora goats may be the most efficient fiber producers on Earth. These makers of mohair came from and were named after Ankara (Angora before 1930), the Turkish province where they have thrived for centuries. Turkey guarded these goats against exportation until 1849 when seven does and two bucks were imported into the United States. Later, more were imported from Turkey and South Africa, the two principal mohair producers in the 19th century.

But now the United States has become one of the two biggest producers (along with South Africa) of mohair — the long, lustrous, wavy hair that goes into fine garments. The other primary fiber from goats is cashmere (see "A Small-Scale Agriculture Alternative, Cashmere Goats", December 1992). But crossing Angora with cashmere goats results in a fiber called cashgora, with very limited use and characteristics of neither fine fiber.

The two goat types also differ in temperaments. The angoras are relaxed and docile, while cashmere and/or Spanish meat goats are often flighty and high strung. Angora goats, which do produce mohair, do not produce Angora hair. Only rabbits can produce Angora hair.

Although Angora goats are somewhat delicate, they grow their fleeces year-round. This puts considerable strain on the animal, and probably contributes to their lack of hardiness.

About 90 percent of the U.S. mohair clip originates in Texas, but the goats are raised across wide areas of the United States. They adapt well to many conditions, but are particularly suited to the arid southwestern states. Central and southwestern Texas have all the major mohair warehouses.

Fleckvieh - A cow with high milk production

Fleckvieh (or Miling Simmental) is the second largest dairy breed in the world – and one of Europe’s oldest. At the moment, there are an estimated 42 million cattle with Fleckvieh bloodlines worldwide. Developed in the highlands of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the breed became popular in most parts of the world because of their adaptability to harsh climatic conditions.

Active genetic potential

“The Fleckvieh cow is durable, hardy and easy to handle even within a small farm,” says Dr. Anthony Gichohi from Fleckvieh Genetics (EA). “They are able to move easily even in the most difficult terrain. A mature Fleckvieh has good strength and body development. A mature cow weighs about 650-800 kilograms. The breed has a very large and active genetic potential. We believe it is going to be one of the major breeds in the country once farmers discover its quality,” he says.

Nutritious milk and good meat

Studies show that every 1 kg of milk from a Fleckvieh cow contains 4.2% fat and 3.7% protein in addition the milk is also rich in other micronutrients and Omega 3 fats – which are vital for a healthy body. According to Dr Wanjohi, Fleckvieh bulls are fast growing and gain muscle at a rate of 1.5 kilogrammes per day for the first 200 days when cross-bred with other breeds, the farmer is assured of high quality of milk and beef. Under intensive fattening conditions, young bulls reach a daily weight gain of more than 1300 grams. In the first 6 months after birth, a bull can attain up to 300 kg with proper feeding and management.

Disease resistance

Compared with other breeds, Fleckvieh owners will not have to incur huge veterinary bills – due to the breed’s ability to withstand some of the common livestock diseases, mastitis for instance – This is an inflammation of the udder that cuts down milk production. The infection is caused by somatic cells (dead cells) from the bloodstreams that get into the milk in the udder. Fleckvieh cow milk has lower numbers of somatic cells compared to other dairy breeds, meaning that Fleckvieh is less prone to mastitis; there is another advantage: Less somatic cells means: The milk lasts longer without refrigeration.

And, since Fleckvieh has a very thick skin, it is more resistant against diseases transmitted by ticks and tsetse flies- the proboscis of these vectors cannot penetrate the thick Fleckvieh skin.

An easy to handle cow

Farmers are usually more interested in the amount of milk a cow can produce. But what goes for Holstein-Fresian and other breeds, can as well be said of Fleckvieh: The amount of milk a cow produces depends directly on the feed it is given and the way it is kept. With sufficient and nutritious feed, a healthy cow can produce a lot of milk; if the feed is poor, the milk yield will be less. Farmers sometimes forget the relationship between the feed given and the milk output.

All the Right Reasons to Raise Pigs

Did you know that agriculture itself could scarcely have evolved eons ago without the recycling abilities of the pig? Yet fewer and fewer farmers raise even a single pig these days. Here are some quirky, interesting facts about our smelly little friends.

No barnyard animal has a better nose, yet none produce more odoriferous manure.

The pig has cloven hooves—an adaptation shared with flighty prey animals like the sheep, deer, and antelope—yet no barnyard animal displays as much swagger or is less afraid.

No animal is said to be smarter, yet pigs will stay out in the sun so long that they’ll repeatedly end up with second-degree sunburns.

The pig is the friendliest animal on the farm by far: always available for a scratch behind the ears, hardly ever moody, and quick with a grunt of delight. Yet the pig would also eat you for supper, if circumstances were right. Pigs are the only meat-eating animals that we humans, in turn, raise for meat.

The pig is said to be the cleanest animal on the farm, yet every child knows that a pig will roll in a mud puddle at the first opportunity.

Pigskin (the traditional covering of a football) is one of the toughest and most useful of animal hides, yet a pig’s skin is extremely sensitive to temperature and injury.

Some breeds of pigs grow ferocious-looking tusks yet dine primarily on roots and vegetables.

The fastest member of the pig family is the warthog, which can reach speeds of 35 MPH.

Though "pigging out" is synonymous with gluttony, the stomach of a pig is proportionately much smaller than that of a sheep or a cow.

The best types of goats for meat

There are some strains of #goats that have been genetically selected by man specifically for #meat.  Some of these are actual #breeds while others of these are just beginning to have distinct traits that pass reliably from parents to offspring.  The breeds or stains used in the #U.S. have all been genetically selected from populations of goats brought by settlers to new countries.  These #goats were often allowed to become almost feral (run wild).  Under these conditions, only those who could survive their rugged environment lived long enough to produce offspring.  This type of genetic selection where nature not man choses which #livestock will be used to produce offspring is called natural selection. These breeds or strains include:

                1)  Spanish Meat Goat - Spanish goats are the descendants of goats brought to the U.S. by early New England settlers. They migrated south and probably interbred with goats brought into Texas and Mexico by early Spanish settlers. Their ancestry is as mixed up as that of a mongrel dog.  Their rugged environment shaped them into very tough, rather small goats.  Specific ranchers have genetically selected Spanish goats for better meat production by keeping only the biggest or meatiest bucks for breeding to females.  Nubian bucks have sometimes been crossed with them to improve size, milk production of dams, and fleshiness of the kids.   These meatier goats are known as Spanish Meat goats.  They come in almost any color and are usually left horned.  Their ears are somewhat pendulous but shorter than a Nubian’s.   Many of them produce a cashmere undercoat in winter.  

                2)  Tennessee Meat Goat - in 1880 a flock of myotonic goats was identified on a farm in Tennessee. Myotonic means that they have a condition that caused their muscles to lock up whenever they were startled. Sometimes their muscles lock up so suddenly that they fall over.  This was the origin of the Tennesee Stiff-Leg or Fainting Goat population.  These goats come in many color combinations and have airplane ears (shaped like Alpine ears but not erect, instead they jut out sideways). Texas ranchers at Onion Creek Farm chose from this population, goats with the largest frames and heaviest muscles to keep for breeding purposes.  Gradually they produced a goat that is larger and heavier than the original strain. These selected goats are known as Tennesse Meat Goats.  The constant stiffening and relaxing of the muscles of myotonic goats may result in heavy rear leg muscling, tender meat, and a high meat to bone ratio.

                3)  South African Boer Goat - This South African breed probably resulted from crossbreeding of native goats raised by Bantu tribes and various European and Asian goats brought in by Dutch immigrants.  In the 1800s, SA goat farmers started selecting  for compact, muscular, short-haired goats.  They were able to produce a strain of goat that bred true for high growth rate, muscular  carcasses, good fertility, and short hair combined with a very distinct color pattern (white body and red head). In 1959, breed standards were adopted and they became a recognized breed.  Boer goats were introduced into the US in the early 1990s.  Under good nutritional conditions, Boer goat crossbreds produce outstanding weight gains and carcasses.

                4)  New Zealand Kiko Goat - The Kiko goat was produced in New Zealand by taking feral does that exhibited  good meat conformation and breeding them with Saanen and Nubian bucks to increase their milk yield and butterfat content.  Those bucks and does whose offspring grew best (as measured by weight gain) under rugged conditions were chosen to produce the future generations.  Kikos have similar ears to Spanish goats but are usually larger framed.  They are often white like their Saanen ancestors.

5 Critical Tips For Livestock Farmers As Weather Turns Harsh

When Minnesota's weather turns extreme, the pressure is on for #livestock #farmers.

Extension's #livestock team has the latest in research to #help #farmers ensure the safety environments, both indoors and outdoors, for their #animals.

1.Cold stress in #calves can spell trouble

2.Wind, snow and cold temperatures impact all #cattle. Nutritional needs can provide a particular challenge for #cattle owners. 

3. #Horses can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. but they have a host of health needs in the colder months.

4.For the #pork #farmers, building safety is paramount. 

5.#Lambing season will be here soon. #Lambs need an environment with the right mixture of warmth and fresh air at birth so they can thrive in the longer term.