It is stored in the liver and is supplied through the intestinal walls. Iron also helps oxidize other vitamins for muscle growth, formation of red blood cells and bone structure. Without iron the goat will rapidly develop anemia. Even the grain dealers understand about health, sanitation and feeding!Ĭopper is necessary for the absorption and utilization of iron in all goat breeds.Ĭopper deficiency in a goat is an ugly thing! It causes the goats bones to become brittle just like a human’s bones when they have rickets. Excess copper will kill sheep.Īn interesting disclaimer that one of the brands listed was: “Results from use of this product may vary based upon differences in customers’ management, health and sanitation, breeding, genetics and feeding”. What do you see wrong with the third one? Could it be that there is something missing in it that goats need but could poison sheep? Your right, it’s copper. Having the tags from several different brands of grains and comparing them, I noticed that one of them specifically says “Do not feed to sheep, product contains copper”, another states “this feed contains supplemental copper, do not feed to sheep” and still another says it’s a Sheep and Goat Feed and it’s for “growing, breeding and lactating sheep and goats”. There are so many great goat grains on the market, why jeopardize your goat with a grain formulated for another type of animal? If you buy a bag of feed that says it is for sheep or goats, you are buying health problems for your goats. Now you get my “feed sermon”, sheep feed is for sheep, goat feed is for goats, cattle feed is for cattle, and etc. Just like humans, the more water they drink the healthier they will be! A red salt block, also known as mineral blocks or brown blocks is a good choice because they contain not only salt, but also trace minerals such as iron, manganese, copper and iodine. Salt blocks are a necessity! Our motto has been “keep your goats thirsty”, especially your boys, so that they will drink plenty. If you wouldn’t drink out of it what makes you think your goats will? Goats are not dirty animals, don’t treat them that way. Washing with a little bleach, swished around with a brush and rinsed with water will keep your containers clean. If your water containers start building up algae, you are doing a poor job in your management program. Angora goats are even fussier than meat or dairy goats are! One little piece of poop and they will avoid that water like the plague. With the bucks, you can run into problems with urinary calculi from not drinking enough water to balance the phosphorous and calcium they ingest. It doesn’t matter what kind of container you use, but you have to KEEP IT CLEAN! Goats will not drink dirty water. Of course, once it’s on the ground, it has gotten stepped on, peed on, and pooped on, so don’t expect to ever see your goats bend down and eat it! That’s what they will actually eat it does not include the other two or three pounds that they spilled on the ground trying to get to that little choice morsel that they see in the very center of the pile. A goat needs four percent of its body weight in dry matter per day. Hay, hay, hay, lots of good quality hay is a major component to raising healthy, happy goats. Don’t give in to it! Over feeding can eventually kill your goat. It is difficult when those big, beautiful caprine eyes are looking at you with the “please feed me, I’m melting away to nothing” look. Her liver had caramelized and her systems had shut down. This fat, which packed her internal body cavity, was a major contributing factor to her demise. We had only owned her for about six months, so, we were not privy as to how she had been fed in her early life. As it turns out, her problem was the internal fat storage she had developed throughout her life. This was a large doe, though not one that would be considered “fat”. The outward appearance of a goat is not always informative on the inside condition. The necropsy gave us “inside” information on how a goat makes and distributes fat throughout their body. Opting for a necropsy was one of the wisest decisions we have ever made. This article will cover basic information on feeding and minerals.Ī few years ago we lost a beautiful doe in her last few weeks of pregnancy. Volumes can be written about this subject alone. Written By Janice Spaulding, founder of Goat School
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