How to feed goats

A caring owner will find time to be present at the birth of a kid. While this will certainly help your baby to imprint your light image next to the mother for positive emotions in the future, the presence is still practical. First of all, if the umbilical cord is torn and the remnant remains longer than 10 cm, it must be cut to 7-10 cm with sterilized sharp scissors and cauterized with iodine. The goat will lick the baby and probably eat some of the placenta - this is normal. Your task is to make sure that the baby goat receives colostrum from the mother within the first hour after birth. Otherwise, you will need to give bottled colostrum as it is rich in nutrients and has immune-boosting properties. Colostrum can be obtained from the mother, another goat, or purchased in advance.

The advantage of formula-fed kids is that they are usually more attached to a person, grow up tame and friendly. But if the goat with colostrum and feeding the goat is all right, still leave the baby with the mother for a few days - nothing can replace the benefits of natural maternal colostrum.

If you decide to bottle feed your baby goat, then you should give MILK at least four times a day for the first month, and then you can reduce the number of feedings to three. Follow your veterinarian's advice regarding the exact amount of milk to feed and any other necessary supplements. Baby goats need to be bottle fed for about five to eight weeks. They need a bottle three to five times a day until they are two to two and a half times their birth weight and feel comfortable eating dry food.

If you leave a goat with its mother, the goat will do all the nursing work for the first six to eight weeks. Then you can gradually transfer the goat to a diet with hay.

Weaning usually begins around four weeks of age, although it can occur as early as six to eight weeks of age. The algorithm is the following:

in one week, start offering a small amount of grain to speed up the development of the goat's rumen;

offer a mixed ration of hay and a small amount of grain per month, open access to pasture with grass. At the same time, gradually reduce the amount of milk (if bottle fed) you offer over the course of a month.

A goat's diet is mostly hay (about 80%) because roughage helps the rumen function properly, but don't switch your kid to hay overnight as this can cause bloating and digestive problems. Start by introducing hay in pellets, as the more digestible form, and grains should only make up 5 percent of your total diet. Do not give moldy hay, and before releasing it to the pasture, check for plants that are potentially harmful to goats.

Provide the goat and its mother with goat mineral supplements to encourage muscle building and good bone development in the goat, and to support lactation in the goat.