Why you should be feeding your goats browse #BabyGoatFarm

Goats are a true browser- 60% of their diets should be browse- the remainder grass and forbs.

Goats offer an alternative to utilizing forage and vegetation which is otherwise "wasted'; while producing products such as- milk, meat and fiber. Goats can also control unwanted vegetation in pastures and woodlands, while improving them.

Goats only consume the best part of a wide range of grasses, legumes and browse plants. Browse plants include brambles, shrubs, trees, and vines with woody stems. The quality of the feed is most directly related to the age or stage of growth at the time of grazing.

Goats are very active foragers they have the ability to utilize browse species which often have thorns and small leaves tucked in woody growth. The feeding habits of goats seems to be to select grasses when protein levels are high but switch to browse when the latter is more nutritious.

Grazing forage seems to be the least expensive way of supplying nutrients to animals. Therefore, it is essential to develop a year round forage program which allows for as much grazing as possible.

 

Example of Crude Protein %

 

Pasture vegetative 12-24 %

Pasture mature 8-10

Pasture-dead leaves 5-7

Honeysuckle leaves

&buds 16

Honeysuckle mature 10

Sumac early 14

Oak bud & leaves 18

Kudzu early 14

 

High quality forage/browse should be available to does during last month of gestation; as well as growing kids. When the quality and quantity of browse is limited, a concentrated supplement may be considered to maintain a healthy body condition.

 

Poisonous Plants for Goats

 

Cherry

Milkweed

Yew

Azaleas

Lily of the Valley

Larkspur

 

Baby Goat Farm

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