Balanced Diet for Goats in Stall Feeding

Goats' nutritional needs affect their health, growth, pregnancies, and milk production. If their diet is inadequate, or if does are overweight, their milk production and fertility will be negatively affected.

  1. Balanced Diet for Milk Goats

    • For good milk production, goats need good quality hay--preferably alfalfa hay or hay from other legumes such as perennial peanut or alyce clover. A balanced grain mix is also required, preferably with a protein content of 14% to 16%. Grass hay will limit milk production, as will poor-quality fiber.

    Balanced Diet for Meat Goats

    • Meat goats require protein, calcium, and phosphorus on a daily basis. They should be offered the highest-quality hay you can find, supplemented by a concentrated feed that provides 70% to 90% of their total daily nutritional requirements. Pregnant and lactating does need a diet of grain, protein meal, and whole cottonseed to prevent ketosis and early death loss of the kids.

    Water and Forage

    • Goats must have fresh high-quality water available at all times. While goats can get some water out of their feed, lactating does in particular have high water needs.

      Even goats kept in a stall will enjoy doing a little foraging, which helps them satisfy their inquisitive personalities. Having a small area near the barn with bushes, trees, and grass on which to forage helps goats, even though the nutritional needs provided by such forage may be small.