We desire to follow a traditional, non-industrialized, diet for ourselves. We also desire that our animals follow a traditional diet. And this not only for their own health, but to support our health when consuming the meat, eggs, or milk they provide. As the proud owners of (so far) two Nubian milking does, two Nubian doelings, and eight Nigerian Dwarf goats, we are hard at work to figure out what we should feed our goats so that they are healthy and the milk they produce is of the highest quality.
Browsing around on the web, I’ve yet to find any information on the goat’s traditional diet. But I did find something in “The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable” by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. Her work is based on the premise that if domestic animals are allowed to eat their natural diet in a natural environment, they will be healthy and free of modern animal diseases (such as scrapie and mad cow). She includes herbal remedies for common diseases such as those affecting the digestive system or mucous membranes. She writes,
“My book teaches natural care of animals and totally shuns their exploitation (wherein they are treated as machines, instead of as living, sensitive and loving creatures). This book wholly condemns the force-feeding of unnatural foods to any creatures. If a diet is unnatural, disease will keep company with those subjected to it: that is a fixed law. … The Bible tells of God’s instructions to Noah, that the preferred and natural foods of every creature were to be taken into the Ark for their nourishment. And to this day, animals fed on natural foods do not develop those horrible (almost satanic) ailments being reported in journals, on radio and television.”
According to Ms. Levy, who consulted old farming manuals, the natural diet of goats includes:
- Abundant sweet water
- Iodine-rich foods
- Foods rich in aromatic oils
- Rock salt, especially in hot climates
- Leafy and woody food, other than grasses – woodland grazing
- Oats planted along with vetches
- Barley (the goat cereal)
- Alfalfa
- Sunflower – the whole plant and the seed heads
- Linseed
- Corn, including the inner cobs
- Flaked barley and rolled oats
- Wheat bran
- Dried beet pulp
- In the winter: silage (fodder harvested while green and kept succulent by partial fermentation as in a silo) prepared with molasses (a nutritious change from dry hay)
With regard to our strategy for feeding our goats, I would like to compile my own milk-supporting grain mix (maybe even someday being able to grow the food on our own property). I have sources for organic barley, organic rolled oats, and organic alfalfa (dried as hay). I would like to find organic sunflower seeds and organic corn. The corn should definitely be organic, otherwise it is likely GMO. We use kelp for the minerals. Our ultimate goal is to plant as many of the recommended foods as we can around our partially-wooded property (as well as many of the health-supporting and illness-curing herbs Ms. Levy recommends). We already have many browse-type non-grass weeds that are dearly loved by the goats, as well as woody food. Over the course of time, we will pay attention to milk production and the health of our animals and make revisions as needed.
What I haven’t found out is how much of each of the recommended foods is a good daily ration. Do you know of any traditional animal diet resources that offer information on the natural diet of animals and specific ration amounts of the recommended foods? Also, do you know any information about making/purchasing silage?
What a fantastic post! I never knew what goats are supposed to eat. Thanks for posting this — very interesting. And thanks for adding this post to Real Food Wednesday. I stumbled it!
Hi Wardeh,
There is a lady close to me who feeds her chickens under that same philosophy – natural grasses, bugs and other plants. She is putting together a website about all things natural but not sure when she’ll be done with it.
As far as finding organic corn I found some that is grown in Durham, OR by http://www.AzureStandard.com. They have lots of organic things they grow, including popcorn & quinoa. It’s nice to buy something organic, fairly locally.
Good luck!
hey there- my dad raised goats – when I get a chance I’ll ask him and drop you a line- I also have one of his old books called “goat Husbandry” – a friend of ours who has goats is borrowing it right now- but I will try to get it back so I can look for any useful info and share with you- we are planning on getting some goats this year- and chickens- so I am glad you posted this. How much land are you on? we have 12 acres…
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
vehement flame – We’re not on so much land as you; we have 5-1/2 acres. Someday, we want more.
I would love to hear what your dad says and also what your book says! Thanks so much!
Sustainable Eats — I’d love to see your friend’s website when she gets it done – we’re planning on chickens, too!
About Azure, I have never seen organic corn in the feed section-but perhaps you’re talking about using the corn “for people” (ha, ha)? I ordered organic barley feed from them this month, but it didn’t come in.
That happens so often. Yesterday at the feed store, I was stoked to find local, natural oats! Yay! I can also order organic cracked corn through them. But nothing else organic. I would like to find organic black sunflower seeds. Those are conventional, so far as I can find. I’m still looking around.
Thanks for your thoughts!
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Wardeh-
that was written in the ’50’s that tells how to formulate goat feed. Included in the recommendation is a vitamin supplement. I believe DC co-op adds Horseguard pellets to their goat mix along with whole grains, sunflower seeds, split peas, whole corn, alfalfa pellets. My goats would like it better with mollases and they could use the extra calories.
Goats are related to deer, so what deer like to eat is good for goats as well. However, in order to produce a whopping gallon of milk per day, enough to sustain not only thier kids, but also yours, they need some intense nutrition. I have a book (in a box somewhere, I believe I could find that for you if you want
I knew a lady once who fed straight alfalfa hay during milking, perhaps with a good salt lick that would be sufficient.
Blessings to your little farm-
Thank you for that information, Christina. I wonder if the book you mention is “Raising Milk Goats the Modern Way” but it was published in the 70s. It has some formulas for mixing your own feed, but many include soy. Since I’ll be visiting you soon, maybe I could take a look at your book? (If it is unpacked – don’t do it special.)
Hi Wardeh,
Have you seen this site yet: http://www.kookoolanfarms.com/Classes_and_Events.php? They are in Yamhill, OR and not sure where that is in relation to you but maybe they could answer questions or they have cheesemaking classes. For some reason I think you are in OR somewhere.
Hope you are enjoying the goats!
Thanks! I hadn’t seen them. I am in Oregon, but not near Yamhill, I don’t think. I will have to map it. I would like to contact them about their feeding practices. We are enjoying the goats – now we have four milkers. This morning I brought in more than 3/4 gallon! We’re making date sweetened ice cream tonight. I can’t believe we have raw milk in the house. We’re all in heaven.
Wardeh- have you looked into silage? Its like fermented salad for animal feed. I was just looking through Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living. She also mentioned that old time farmers would sprout grains for winter feeding of livestock as an alternative to buying processed, viitiminized feeds. Carla Emery describes how to silage but wasn’t as thorough as you would probably want to begin the process.
Christina – thanks for mentioning that! It came up in the above reading I referenced, but without any detail. Happily, I just ordered Carla Emery’s book and when it arrives I will see what she has to say. It sounds good to me – I already sprout for us, why not more for the animals? I wonder how the goats would like it.
Re: several goat comments.
The Natural Goat Care book by Pat Coleby is excellent and discusses a large number of nutritional issues that goats face in thin soil, which includes about half of our mountainous Douglas County land, which is prone to erosion. It also has a great section on poisonous plants… and yes, goats are related to deer, but there are some things deer can eat that goats can not. Mountain laurel, azaleas and other related plants make goats REALLY sick. I had a mob of goats (yep, that’s what goats are called, not a herd!) get into mountain laurel in 2003 and they were convulsing and had green foam coming out their mouths. (Goats can’t vomit.) I saved every single one of them by mixing Emergen-c, water and olive oil in a drench and carefully forcing it down them with a drench gun. (Carefully, because an ex-boyfriend of mine once killed my favorite angora bucklin by forcing milk down his throat while he was sucking in a breath to scream. He got milk in his lungs and died almost immediately, before we could even figure out what to do other than pat the little guy on the chest and back and shake him upside down. Sounds cruel, but we panicked.) Several of them had stillborns a few months later. But they all had healthy kids later. So far as I know (I gave away and sold some when I moved in 2007), they are all still alive.
I have the other goat books mentioned above, and Carla Emery’s book, and several veterinary textbooks, but Natural Goat Care is the book I used over and over again when I had a problematic mostly angora mob at my old home in Virginia. I brought three of my pygoras with me when I moved to Oregon and bought three other goats (one milk, two meat) and now have a mob of 15 mostly very healthy, unruly, happy, silly, playful, curious, loveable pains in the rears. I am concerned about the local deer, who frequently jump the fence and eat with my goats. Some of the deer are missing tufts of hair. I must look that up.
Re: the comment about ensilage, goats are also especially prone to sickness from mold. (Funny, because people think they eat everything with impunity.) So I’d be careful with ensilage, inspecting it carefully before feeding.
Sometimes I buy whole green peas from the co-op, pour them into a five gallon bucket about 1/3 full and then add water to about the 2/3 mark. I soak them 24 hours (as soon as I’m done feeding I get a pail started and it’s ready the next morning). This also works for barley and whole oats, but the two times I tried wheat in the summer, it molded. I used to pour the soaked peas (oats, barley, etc) out onto a screen to sprout but the chickens and ducks ate them too fast so now I just drain off the water and feed the soaked grains and legumes as is. Goats also LOVE peas dry and it is fun to watch and listen to them chew them… they’re kind of like children with hard candy.
I haven’t seen feed corn at Azure either. I try to avoid feed store corn because so much of it is genetically engineered (same with soy, which is also a goitrogen).
One note about the peas: one year the does all had bucks… not even one doe was born. We have a lot of vetch growing on our hillside and I was also feeding peas very often then. I looked up a preponderance of bucks in Pat Colby’s book and she said this was a common issue when too many legumes are fed.
Larisa – Thank you for all the information! Wow! I just got Pat Coleby’s book yesterday and I’m halfway through.
I am a little overwhelmed. I wonder if I might call you sometime to ask your advice? I will email you about this! We have a goat with pneumonia – one of our new goats. She has been sick for 4 weeks and we’re on a second round of antibiotics (out of desperation) but she is not getting better. I wanted to do what Pat Coleby suggested with Vitamin C and B12 and whatever VAM is, but I think I can only find B12 locally. I’ve called Central Feed and DC Co-OP. I’ve been feeding her kelp liberally in case she has a mineral deficiency (which Pat Coleby says is the basis of all illness), and hay, but no grain (although I just stopped that two days ago). I can’t get her to take whey or anything remotely good for her. I have some dolomite, but nothing copper, other than in the kelp (and it isn’t much). Do I need to do a drench? I have Emergen-C which might give the Vitamin C and she might like it. I also have questions about using a mineral mix in addition to the kelp. I called the extension office yesterday and she advised against the kelp. I am avoiding soy like the plague and I hate using GMO corn, but I feel like my options are limited. What do you feed your milk goats? The peas, oats and barley? I have been feeding wet and dry cob, mixed, along with whole oats, sunflower seeds, kelp and raw apple cider vinegar and then alfalfa hay along with lots of browse. I wonder if I should start soaking the oats? With their advanced rumen, is it necessary to soak for goats? I know this is a very basic question but I have it! I could go on an on… I’ll email you to see if I can call you. Thanks for all the detailed descriptions!
Alas, I have never seen injectible Vitamin C. You can use Emergen-c or powdered magnesium and c, both of which are available at drug stores and/or run some chewable vitamin c tablets through a coffee grinder or high speed blender. The problem with all the human options except Emergen-C is that they have scary sweeteners and colorings. Try seeing if your drug store can get injectible vitamin c for you. Sometimes if you’re really persistant you can get goats to eat the powder or the tablets, but they have a tendency to cough or spit them out. Do you have any acidophilus to make up for the damage from the antibiotic? I would separate her, pull grass and weeds by hand for her and give her some of your family’s salad trimmings. Keep someone with her as much as possible, loving her and administering C often if you’re doing it orally. Do you know she has pneumonia? Does she have a runny nose, cough AND a fever? If not, could it be lung worm? If your goat is new, sometimes stress of moving will cause a dormant worm population to explode. I have an older doe who has lung damage from lung worm, I believe. I baby her and watch her carefully, but she still kids twins and she follows me around like a puppy. She remembers the loving care from when she was sick.
I can’t remember what they call VAM here. But there is an excellent B complex shot you can purchase at the DC Co-op in the same aisle wit h all the ear tags. You will need a syringe and needle (pre assembled might be easier since you’re new at this – they are on an aisle end at the back of the feed department and beginning of the plumbing section). You will need to know whether the complex is subcutaneous or intramuscular. SubQ is much easier on YOUR heart and nerves: you just pinch up a flap of loose skin and insert the needle while straddling the goat, so you don’t have to worry about hitting a vein or damagine a muscle (never inject a butt muscle!)
You can use “acidified copper sulfate” for the copper; it is in the same aisle as the B complex. But use HALF of what it says on the directions! It will leave a film on the water and your goat may refuse to drink it otherwise. You may even have to use less.
Please continue feeding kelp. The extension agent is making absolutely no sense when she advises against it. That’s like when my mom’s colon cancer doctor told her to eat jello and avoid whole foods. I’ll run real food through the blender, thank you very much. Kelp has trace minerals you can not get in any commercial formula and goats like it. There is a probiotic goat mineral blend in a yellow bag if I remember right, in the same aisle. The goats eat it up, but I think probios you might have refrigerated for human use are probably more effective. I’ve also used the “Probios” brand in the little round white jars. The goats eat that up happily, too. You can also see if your doe will eat some of your cultured vegetables. I’ll bet she will!
DC Coop also has a variety of wormers in the same aisle across from the B and copper; I would try the kind that is pelleted like food, which even sick goats will eat and I have never seen to have side affects. I have tried Hoegger’s herbal wormer multiple times, but despite what they say, I’ve never had goats eat it happily. I have to hide it in molasses or peanut butter or something else silly. I used to have a pygmy who would only eat it on peanut butter and home made bread. Hoegger also have a liquid black walnut/clove/wormwood wormer… which you can also buy at your health food store. Figure the goat’s dosage just like a person’s for the liquid herbal. Warning: it tastes nasty! You’ll have to dose quickly.
The goats are NOT fond of the Emergen-C, but it perks them up nicely. You asked if you needed a drench. There is a cheap kind that works just fine – it has a plastic cylinder and plunger and a curved metal spout with a rounded tip to put in the goat’s mouth. Sometimes the drench is a little hard to get started when you push the plunger, but other than that, I’ve never had a problem with them.
I feed all the goats the same feeds, rotating for variety. Mostly they graze, but they get=2 0about a couple of cups each of whatever the grains and peas of choice are each morning. When I’m feeling really broke (which has happened a LOT lately), I’ll feed them a combination of rye pellets and hen scratch (which contains corn, but also wheat and milo). When I’m feeling rich, they sometimes get DC goat mix, which includes peas and sunflower seeds. Otherwise they get whole oats, whole barley, whole peas… sometimes soaked, sometimes not. I work a night job AND the store (which is opening tomorrow afternoon very quietly with minimal food since I just got my license a few minutes ago and I have 1200 pounds of grass fed beef here that I am anxious to start selling… we’ll be fully stocked in a couple weeks). Sometimes I think about the soaking and sometimes I don’t! The goats’ rumens do hold food long enough to break down enzyme inhibitors, but I think they could sometimes use a little help, especially if they are sick, or they’re stressed, or it’s really hot or really cold, or there’s been a couple thunderstorms in a row, etc… Sometimes I feed probios for the same reason, even when everyone looks healthy.
All my goats are in milk and I’m not milking even one. Sad, huh?
Yes, you can call me.
I would like to recommend that you read Pat Coleby’s Natural Goat Care. She is a wealth of information and believes very strongly in feeding goats naturally.
Linda – thanks! Since writing this post, I’ve gotten that book. It is great. We’ve already benefitted from it with an eye injury and using cod liver oil to treat it. It is good to hear of someone else recommending it.
Do you know anything about feeding whole grain wheat to goats?
Linda, I’ve never seen it mentioned with regard to goats. What are your thoughts?
Just a couple of thoughts for your goats. Try to keep it simple. My milkers get oats, BOSS and calf manna, mixed in a ration of 6 parts oats, 2 parts BOSS and 1 part calf manna. They have fresh water, free choice baking soda and free choice minerals (manna pro goat minerals). They only get grain on the milk stand, and the rule of thumb that I follow is 1 lb. of grain for every 3 pounds of milk produced. I then adjust the amount up or down, according to their body condition. In your area, you may want to copper bolus, and also look to see if you need to use BO-SE injections for their vitamin E and selenium, if your area is selenium deficient.
Be very careful feeding corn to goats. Although they really love it, it can cause their rumen to become too acidic.
I use the chewable vitamin C tablets for humans for my goats, they absolutely love them.
Great site, stumbled upon it by accident while trying to hunt down how I can purchase Pat Colby’s Goat Care book.
Found the comments on goat diet most informative! We have over 50acres and run Boer Goats, but recently have had a terrible run of bad luck which we thought was limited to a particular blood line, but recent developments indicate this might not be the case.
A strange “wasting” disease which has taken sick goats within a couple of weeks. Drenching (chemical) has not done the trick but I’ve recently tried hunting down “alternative” options out of desperation, hence the trawling of the internet picking up bits here and there from Pat Colby!
Look forward to visiting this site from time to time, there’s always something to learn thinking outside the square!
Hi
I too have read and live by Pat Coleby’s book. I must admit that forcing dolamite, copper sulfate and sulfur down their throats twice a week is a pain but well worth it.
I have two half pygmy/half fainters that have their own barn and own land to roam next to a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Milking Goats. I keep them seperate because the fainter mix has horns( scurs that might as well be full horns) that were done wrong by a vet. Then we have our buck barn on the other side of the farm away from all the girls.
I feed my goats only natural stuff and do not give vaccines. I have never yet had to give a shot of any kind. I give vitamin C a lot, and dolomite if i feel they are off at all. Only had one with a runny nose when I very first got them several years ago. They get a mineral blend with a little Diamond V yeast added to it along with free choice kelp, baking soda, and salt. I also give apple cider vinegar twice daily in their water for all animals, chickens and dogs included. I also give them cod liver oil every two weeks and herbal wormer once a week that I make my self.
I am taking in their feces to the vet next week so will be able to tell if it is all working or not. I do my own fecals here and I never see any worms, but just to be safe once a year I take a sample to our vet.
When the does are dry they get alfalfa hay and forage daily with no grain. When they are in milk I give them my own mix of grain that I get from a co-op. They get fed grain twice a day when I milk. My grain is
50 pounds barley
50 pounds oats
25 pounds alfalfa pellets
4 pound of boss
8 pounds, 3 ounces of beet pulp
I mix it all and this is their grain .
I too would love to talk to others who go by Pat Coleby’s book. I really do live by her book and my goats have always been extremely healthy. It really is very very time consuming to care for your herd this way especially when you have a larger herd than mine but their health is not something that I would ever want to compramise. Thank you for this site, I loved reading everyones posts and hearing other peoples comments.
Does anyone soak the dolamite, sulfer and copper and add it to their feed as Pat Coleby suggests? If so how has that worked for you? I would love to find and easier way to get it down their throats every week. Thank you all for the posts they were great reading.
Grandmajo – What is BOSS? Thanks for mentioning the chewable vitamin C – I will try that!
Andrew – Have you found anything alternative that has worked against the “wasting” disease?
Jbruner7 – It is good to read your specific feed and habits – Can I ask what you buy for dolomite? Have you ever found a food-grade dolomite and what name does it go by?
Everyone – The biggest problem I have had is that I go to the feed store and ask for such and such, and nobody has heard of it.
So I think it would be helpful to come up with a list of what to buy in today’s commercialized/industrialized feed stores.
Also, what about the CLO? The only good kind of CLO is fermented – and it is expensive enough to buy for people. How often are you giving it to your goats and can you find a quality form of it somewhere for a discount? Unless we go out of your way to buy fermented CLO, the stuff in the stores is bleached with synthetic vitamins added back – sometimes natural vitamins added back. I don’t want to waste money on nothing – nor can I spend what I’m spending now to keep us in supply.
Jbruner7 – I would LOVE to email you. I was looking at your grain mix and would like to talk to you about it. you can email me at smwon1@gmail.com…
Wardeh, don’t know if you got your question answered “What is BOSS?” Boss is Black Oil Sunflower Seeds…
Thank you, Linda. No, I had not gotten an answer. Now that I know, I’m thinking I should have figured it out long ago….
LOL yes, but then I had to ask the first time I read the term as well…