How to Feed Millet to Dairy Goats

MIllet is a type of grain that can be healthy for mature adult dairy goats, according to a study published in the "Journal Of Animal Science." Feeding goats millet is easy, as it is a type of hay you can give them to supplement their protein and fiber requirements. Dairy goats need large amounts of high-quality millet hay in order to produce milk.

Instructions

    • 1

      Make the switch slowly, if you haven't previously fed your goats millet hay. Any abrupt change in diet can upset a goat's stomach and affect her milk production. Buy millet hay before your old hay runs out, and mix the two together for a few weeks, gradually giving the goats more millet hay.

    • 2

      Make the hay easily accessible to the goats. Milk-producing does should have access to all the hay they can eat. Give it to them twice a day, in an area where many goats can congregate. Feeding stands can help keep the hay clean.

    • 3

      Keep millet hay fresh by giving the goats only as much as they will eat in a day. This may take some trial and error. But eventually it will keep you from wasting hay when goats soil it or leave it to rot or get wet.

    • 4

      Feed your goats millet hay along with a grain-based feed produced specially for milk-producing ruminants. Milking does should eat two to three pounds of grain a day, depending on their body weights.

    • 5

      Always have fresh water available near the hay for your goats.