If you are thinking about getting goats or planning to bring home a couple soon, here are seven things that you will want to make sure you have ready for them when they arrive!
Loose goat minerals
The minerals should say they are for goats and only goats! Minerals that are labeled for sheep and goats both will not have enough copper in them, and you will wind up with copper-deficient goats. You also want to be sure you get loose minerals, rather than a block or a tub because goats have very soft tongues, and if you live in an area where deficiencies are common, goats may not be able to get enough from a block or a poured tub. Some may give up while others may try to scrape off the minerals with their teeth, which could result in a chipped tooth.
Mineral feeder
Loose minerals are so named because they are loose like salt and pepper rather than solid like a sugar cube. That means you have to put the minerals in something. You can buy a plastic mineral feeder to screw onto the wall for about $5 from many online sources and farm supply stores. If you only have a couple of goats, just put about a cup of the minerals in there to avoid wasting too much if it gets soiled, and always make sure there are minerals available for the goats free choice. Some will eat more than others, and some will eat more at different times of the year.
Goat feed
Assuming you are bringing home kids, they will probably need goat feed (sometimes just called grain) for at least a few months while they are still growing fast. If you only have a couple of kids, you may only need to buy one 50-pound bag, and by the time they’re done with it, they shouldn’t have any more grain unless you have a problem getting good quality hay. Nigerian dwarfs and pygmies only need about 1/2 cup each per day while standard sized goats need about twice that much. Bucks and wethers should not have grain after about six months of age, and does only need grain at the very end of pregnancy and while in milk. When buying goat feed, check the ingredients and be sure it has at least 35 ppm copper.
Feed pan
This does not need to be very big. Remember, you are not feeding them very much grain. If you put a pan of grain on the ground, always remove it from the goat pen as soon as the grain is gone. If you leave it in there, the goats will walk through it, and you will have to wash it before every use. The alternative to a feed pan is a fenceline feeder, which is pictured above. It is attached to the wall, and goats are less likely to walk through it, getting the pan dirty, or to butt heads over the feed because they are all facing the same direction. If you use a feed pan, avoid putting it in the middle of the floor because goats may start to butt heads and then knock over the pan, spilling the grain.
Hay
The most important thing about hay is that it is green! Bucks, wethers, and dry does are fine with grass hay, but milkers need alfalfa. In some parts of the U.S. milkers eat peanut hay. Towards the end of pregnancy, you can transition the does from grass hay to a mix and then to all alfalfa while they are milking. Hay and alfalfa pellets are also nutritious but you can’t use them to substitute for long-stemmed hay entirely.
Hay feeder
You do not want to feed hay on the ground because it will increase the goats’ chances of having problems with internal parasites, and you will wind up wasting a lot of hay because goats are not fond of eating hay off the ground. That means you will need a hay feeder. Beware of hay feeders made for horses as many of them are dangerous for goats. Be sure your hay feeder does not have any “V” shaped bars where kids can hang themselves. Kids like to jump on top of mom’s back, and if they slip off when their head is in the hay feeder, the result can be tragic.
2-gallon water bucket
Goats need 24/7 access to clean water. When we got started, we bought 5-gallon water buckets, but we have transitioned to 2-gallon buckets over the years for several reasons. They are easier to handle, and goats like fresh water, which means you will need to refill them twice a day whether or not they are empty. If you are young and strong and have more than four or five goats, you might prefer five-gallon buckets. Keep in mind, however, that it is a good idea to have at least two buckets available at all times so that if one buckets gets poop in it, the goats still have access to clean water.
Of course, there are a lot more things you can buy for your goats, but this is a good start!
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ALLEAN STEWART says
August 10, 2016 at 8:29 pmI am so confused about feeding my little dwarf nigerian goats. I have two wethers. Some sites say feed them hay but not alfalfa hay. Some say feed them grain.
thriftyhomesteader says
August 10, 2016 at 8:36 pmI know there is a lot of conflicting information on the Internet, but I have never seen any reputable source say that you should feed grain to wethers on a daily basis. It’s okay for an occasional treat or to bribe them into going somewhere, but it should not be part of their daily diet. Wethers are very “easy keepers” because they’re not breeding animals. They do fine on good quality grass hay when they are not on pasture. During the summer, they don’t need anything extra while on pasture. Alfalfa has too much calcium in it, so could cause zinc deficiency. Grain can cause urinary calculi, which basically means urinary stones, and that can kill them.
Shelly says
August 13, 2016 at 12:38 amI recently saved a sheep from slaughter and she will now be living with my 5 Nigerian dwarf goats. So my problem is minerals for both. The copper issue, can I get minerals good for both and feed foods high in copper to the goats to make up the difference? Or should I use the slow release copper pills for the goats?
thriftyhomesteader says
August 13, 2016 at 9:00 amGoats absolutely must have a free choice mineral with copper in it. People who give boluses give those in addition to free choice minerals because they have a challenge like sulfur in their well water, which causes the goats to absorb less of the copper in their feed and minerals. Many years ago when we added a sheep to our goat herd, we always let the goats into the barn at night, and that’s where we kept their free choice minerals. The sheep stayed in the pasture 24/7. Ideally you would have another sheep and put them in their own space. When I purchased my first sheep, I quickly learned that the two species do not speak the same language. In subsequent years, when I had the herd of goats and the flock of sheep in a pasture together, the two species ignored each other. Also, do not panic if the sheep gets a few licks of the goat mineral. Copper is NOT toxic to sheep. They need copper in their diet too. However, they don’t need as much as goats, and they can suffer from toxicity at a lower level than goats do. Some breeds of sheep, such as Shetland, actually need quite a bit of copper. I used to put goat minerals in their pasture a couple of times a year when I raised them.
Kj Longstrom says
March 4, 2018 at 11:07 pmHi there, I have two Nigerian dwarf goats. They are 7 month old now.. I’m still feeding them goat pellets and hay. No one told me they only get pellets once in a while. So confused… do I just feed my girls hay from now on? What’s the best for them? I don’t plan to breed them for at least another year. Is that a problem?
Help in Texas
Kj Longstrom
thriftyhomesteader says
March 5, 2018 at 9:26 amKJ Longstrom — Assuming your girls are in good body condition and have a good quality hay available, they do not need grain. In fact, if you are not planning to breed them for a year, they will probably get overweight if you continue to feed them grain, and overweight does sometimes have problems getting pregnant. A good quality grass hay should be fine for them until the last couple months of pregnancy when you’d move to at least 50% alfalfa hay. Here is more on feeding during pregnancy.
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/do-goats-need-grain-during-pregnancy/
PK Scott says
January 24, 2019 at 10:26 amI raised nigerian dwarf goats for over 10 years and seen a lot of terrible nutritional information passed off as gospel. Some of it is downright dangerous. First HAY varies wildly in nutritional value. from source to source and from cutting to cutting from the same source, and all the different vegetation that constitutes hay. It is absolutely essential AS FIBER and they need lots of it but counting on it to provide nearly complete nutrition is to gamble with the health of your goats. Switching to alfalfa for late stage pregnant and lactating does is a step in the right directions but it still runs the riskof leaving your does mal nourished. When you buy a goat feed formulated FOR GOATS it has a lable and you know what you are feeding. I looked for non medicated and 16% protein and ammonium chloride to prevent urinary calci in my wethers and bucks. A LITTLE grain is good for your goats skin and hair. i fed corn. it is chock a block full of omegas and kept my goats sleek and healthy.. Loose minerals and plenty of fresh water. I supplemented with extra protein and copper boluses as warranted by condition and pregnancy dictated. regular parasite control should be exercised. plus your goats need partial shade and dry draft free shelter. In Texas I just bought used dogloos and placed them in the paddocks added some wood shavings and we were good to go. They would also love platforms and stuff to climb on and lay on top of.
thriftyhomesteader says
May 17, 2019 at 6:30 pmAll of these topics are covered more in depth by other articles on this site, but one thing that does need to be clarified here is that corn is high in omega-6, which is not healthy. Omega-3 is the healthy one, and that’s in green plants that are found in the pasture. This is why grassfed beef is higher in omega-3 while grain-fed cattle that gets finished on corn is higher in artery-blocking omega-6. Supplementing goats with corn is just adding extra carbs and fat to their diet with very little protein, and you are increasing the omega-6 of their milk and meat, which is not good for the humans consuming those products.
Wendy says
May 17, 2019 at 11:13 amExcellent, I’m going to pass this on. The only thing I’d add after raising dairy goats for over 40 years is a good goat proof fence.
thriftyhomesteader says
May 17, 2019 at 6:24 pmOh, yeah! Fencing is another whole big discussion! 🙂
Riki D. says
June 9, 2019 at 2:14 pmI’m so lost! Im new to goats and my local feed store told me to feed them goat feed, hay and minerals. Ok, but Why do feed stores sell goat feed if you only need to feed your goats a little of it? I went to my local feed store, explained my goats and situation, and apparently everything they told me is bull squabble! HELP ME! I have hay, minerals, goat feed, beet pulp, sweet feed, Chaffey, but each time I look something up and do research, I get completely different answers! My neighbor told me just to “feed em. They’ll be just fine!” Which I know is BS. They have specific needs! I haven’t slept in 3 days because I’m so afraid I’m going to kill my goats!!! I don’t know how to take care of them if every goat site has a different answer!
thriftyhomesteader says
June 16, 2019 at 9:45 amSorry this is delayed. I’ve been traveling the past two weeks and some emails slipped through the cracks. First of all, people in feed stores don’t have any education in goat nutrition. They just know what the feed sales people tell them and what customers tell them, which could vary from great to deadly. I’ve heard some really horrible info attributed to feed store employees.
The other thing is that very little research was done on goats prior to 10-15 years ago, so people were doing a lot of things with goats 20 years ago that have since been proven to be a bad idea. But nothing online ever dies, which means that all of that old information is still out there, and people are still repeating it.
You definitely do NOT need to be giving them an all-stock sweet feed, and only does in milk need goat feed. If you’re raising for meat, some people finish on grain, but not all. Beet pulp is just for fattening up animals. It’s pure carbs. Goats do not need Chaffhaye. It’s just fermented hay, which is okay, but it’s definitely not required. Very few people feed it. You didn’t say whether you have pets, meat goats, dairy goats, etc, and the feeding protocol is different for all of them.
Here is my beginner’s guide to help you get started:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/a-beginners-guide-to-goats/