The Rudiments of Ruminants

on raising goats: feeding forage, and the case for pasture based

This is the second piece in a series on raising goats. You can find the first, my thoughts on breeding age and some observations on behaviour here. Again, I can only write from my own experience and situation—every farm, climate, land and system will have different needs and different ways of doing things. Take what you want from what I offer, do your own research, gather your own experience, learn from your goats, make your own decisions for your herd and farm.

I lean on my own observations. My goats are my greatest teachers. I’m not here to quote numbers, weights or feed percentages, you can easily find that kind of info online. I don’t weigh feed, there are so many variables that will affect how much my goats will eat on any day—the quality of their forage, their activity level, the weather, the stage they’re at in their pregnancy, lactation, and so on. That said, some basic calculations can be helpful in determining quantities when I’m buying in bulk feed, how many bales will see u…