Meat goats require nutrients for body maintenance, growth, reproduction, pregnancy, and production of meat, milk and hair. The groups of nutrients that are essential in goat nutrition are water, energy, protein, minerals and vitamins. Goats should be grouped according to their nutritional needs to more effectively match forage quality and supply to animal needs. Weaned goats prepared for market, does during the last month of gestation, high lactating does and young replacement doelings have the highest nutritional requirements and should be grouped separately from dry does, bucks, etc. which have only maintenance nutritional needs. Does carrying or nursing twins or triplets have greater nutritional requirements than does nursing a single kid. Goats grazing very hilly pastures will have higher nutritional needs than goats on level pastures of the same quality because they will expend more energy to gather feed.

Matching forages to nutritional needs of goats

Highest quality forage and/or browse should be available to does during the last month of gestation, to lactating does, to developing/breeding bucks, and to weanlings and yearlings. Female kids needed for reproduction should be grazed with their mothers during as much of the milk feeding period as possible and not weaned early. When the quantity of available forage and/or browse is limited or is of low quality, limit grazing or feeding a concentrate supplement may be considered to maintain desired body weight gain or body condition, depending on cost:benefit ratios. Whole cottonseed makes an excellent supplement for goats when fed at no more than 0.5 lb/head/day. Dry does and non-breeding mature bucks will meet their nutritional requirements on low to medium quality forage (10-11% protein and 50-60% TDN).

In a barn feeding situation such as during the winter months, goats with the highest nutritional requirements should be offered the highest quality hay available. Whether grazed or barn fed, meat goats should be limit grazed or supplemented with a concentrate feed when either the forage that they are grazing or the hay that they are fed do not contain the necessary nutrients to cover their nutritional requirements. To give producers an idea where some of these requirements fall, low quality forages contain 40-55% TDN, good quality forages contain from 55 to 70% TDN, and concentrate feeds contain from 70 to 90% TDN.

In some situations where brush control in rough areas is the primary purpose of keeping goats, less productive animals or maintenance animals can be forced to consume lower quality feed. If their body condition deteriorates, these animals can then be grazed on better quality pastures or brushy areas. Once desirable body condition is achieved, the same goats can again be used to control brush.

Matching kidding season to forage supply and quality

Goats have the highest nutritional requirements during late pregnancy and early lactation. Therefore, a late winter or early spring kidding when lush pasture is starting to grow rapidly is usually the best strategy. Both the does and kids will have access to the highest quality pasture found anytime during the grazing season on any farm. Thus, does will not lose too much body condition while milking heavily. In turn, kids will grow fast on milk and high quality pasture and will be strong by the time stressors such as temperature and humidity (heat index) and pasture worm loads increase.

Nutritional Management of Replacement Does

Doe kids needed for replacement should be grazed with their mothers during as much of the milking period as possible and not weaned early. Following weaning, doe kids should be separated from the main herd and have access to high quality forage and receive good nutrition through first kidding at 1-2 years of age, depending on the nutritional plane. Leaving replacement doe kids with the main herd will result in undernourished doelings that are bred too young and too small; these animals will never reach their production potential. A yearly supply of replacement does that are healthy and of good size is essential to the success of any meat goat enterprise.

Suggested Supplemental Feeding Program

A complete goat mineral containing selenium should be offered free choice year-around in most production situations. When goats are raised on browse, abundant supply should be made available to allow goats to be very selective and to ingest a high quality diet that will meet their nutritional requirements. When forage or browse is limited or of low quality (< 10% protein), does in the last 30 days of gestation, lactating does, and developing/breeding bucks should be fed 1.0 lb/day of a 16% protein mixture (77:20:2.5:0.5 ground corn : soybean meal :goat mineral : limestone). Alternatively, ground corn and soybean meal can be substituted by whole cottonseed for gestating and lactating does. Low to medium quality forage (> 10% protein) will meet requirements of dry does and non-breeding bucks. When forage or browse is limited or of low quality (< 10% protein), weanlings prepared for market, replacement doelings and yearlings should be fed 1.0 lb/day of the 16% protein mixture described above. Weight gains of growing goats supplemented with whole cottonseed on pasture have not been assessed yet to make recommendations. Goats can be forced to eat very low quality feed including twigs, tree bark, etc., but producers should be aware this practice will hurt the productivity of the meat goat herd. Water

Water is the cheapest feed ingredient. Production, growth and the general performance of the goat will be affected if insufficient water is available. Water needs vary with the stage of production, being highest for early lactating does, and during times when the weather is hot and forages are dry. In some instances, when consuming lush and leafy forages during cold weather, or when grazing forages soaked with rain water or a heavy dew, goats can get all the water they need out of the forage. However, water is almost always needed by some members of the herd such as lactating does. Because it is difficult to predict water needs, goats should always have access to sufficient high quality water. Water needs range between ½ to 4 gallons per day, the latter value for high lactating goats. Clear, flowing water from a stream is preferable to stagnant water as the latter may contain excessive levels of blue-green algae, which may be toxic. Nitrate in drinking water should also be of concern because it is becoming the predominant water problem for livestock. Safe levels in drinking water are as follows (in parts per million): less than 100 for nitrate nitrogen, or less than 443 for nitrate ion, or less than 607 for sodium nitrate. Well, city or community water can be delivered by above ground or underground water lines hooked up to float-containing movable water troughs, a water delivery system offering optimum flexibility for control grazing.

Providing mineral supplementation on pasture

Goats require many minerals for basic body function and optimum production. Providing a complete goat mineral or a 50:50 mix of trace mineralized salt and di-calcium phosphate free choice is advisable under most situations. Make sure that mineral mixes are kept dry and clean, and that your goats eat them, and record how much is consumed. Major minerals likely to be deficient in the diet are salt (sodium chloride), calcium, phosphorous and magnesium. Trace minerals likely to be low in the diet are selenium copper, and zinc.

Most forages are relatively high in calcium (grass: less than 0.5%; legumes: more than 1.2%), so calcium is low only if high grain diets are fed, which would be unusual for meat goats. Low quality, mature or weathered forages will be deficient in phosphorous, especially for high and average lactating does. For example, bermudagrass hay harvested at 7 to 8 weeks regrowth only contains 0.18% phosphorous. The ratio of calcium to phosphorous in the diet is important and should be kept about 2:1 to 3:1 (Table 1).

Grass tetany is associated with low levels of magnesium in the blood. Grass tetany can occur when goats in early lactation are grazing lush, leafy cereal grains, annual ryegrass or grass/legume pastures heavily fertilized with nitrogen on soils low in phosphorous but high in potassium. It mostly affects does in early lactation and especially the highest-producing animals. Under those conditions, it is advisable to provide a mineral mix that contains 5 to 10% magnesium.

Selenium is marginal to deficient in most of the Southeast. Trace mineralized salts that include selenium should be provided to the goat herd at all times. In case selenium is absent, producers should encourage their local feed store to include it in commercial mixes or to order trace mineralized salts that contain selenium.

Copper requirements for meat goats have not been definitively established, although requirements for dairy goats have been established in Europe. Growing and adult meat goats are less susceptible to copper toxicity than sheep, however, but their tolerance level is not well known. Young, nursing kids are generally more sensitive to copper toxicity than mature goats, and cattle milk replacers should not be fed to nursing kids. Mineral mixes and sweet feed should contain copper carbonate or copper sulfate because these forms of copper are better utilized by the goat than copper oxide. Grains are generally lower in copper than forages. However, copper levels are of limited value in assessing adequacy unless forage concentrations of copper antagonists such as molybdenum, sulfur, and iron are also considered.

Forages, especially low quality forages, often contain concentrations of zinc that are thought to be below recommended levels for ruminants. However, zinc requirements of goats have not been defined, and little is known regarding factors that affect zinc availability in forages.

Next
Module Home
Certification Table of Contents
Browsing Table of Contents