Feeding kids: methods and schemes, a table for compiling a diet by day

The first days and hours of life of kids is a special stage of development, on which the formation of immunity, future productivity and he alth in general depend. An important part of care is diet. The method of feeding is chosen for kids depending on the breed, features of keeping and opportunities. Consider how to feed young goats, what should be introduced and what should be excluded from the diet.

Activities before the first feeding

Proper behavior during lambing and immediately after it will save the he alth of mother goats and young animals. What to do:

1. If the goat's umbilical cord has not fallen off by itself, it is cut off. Treat the cut with iodine or brilliant green.
2. Wipe the eyes, muzzle, body of a newborn from grease. To do this, use old soft rags or paper towels.
3. The goat is given to the mother - licking increases the immunity of the baby, protects against infections. When licking starts the process of lactation, colostrum arrives in the udder. Tactile contact is also important for a goat and kid, mother and baby remember each other's smell.
4. The kid is wiped again, transferred to a warm place (in the winter in the house).
5. Washing the goat's udder. Express and discard the first batch of colostrum as it may contain udder contamination and dangerous microbes.
6. The goat is given warm colostrum. It is important to carry out the first feeding while the milk is warm.

Cope with postpartum care and feed colostrum to a goat in half an hour.If the baby does not receive warm colostrum within 30 minutes, the risk of postpartum complications increases several times. Immune protection without feeding will not be formed in a timely manner, from 40 to 60% of young animals die.

If the goat has no milk or too little milk, experienced people recommend:

• to give the animal some sweet water to drink;
• try to milk, massage the udder;
• inject the hormone oxytocin.

The reason for the lack of milk is usually - untimely start before childbirth, complications during lambing, lack of juicy food during feeding.

Feeding methods

The goat is able to feed the baby herself, human participation in the preparation of the diet is not necessary. But many keep a goat herd to get milk, so they are interested in weaning babies from the udder and feeding them artificially. Consider the features of each method of feeding.

Under the uterus

Natural feeding is chosen if there is no need for milk, animals are bred for offspring, wool and skins. After lambing, the kids stay with their mother and eat when they are hungry. Pros of the method:

• little kids don't need food rationing and tiresome repetitive feeding;
• young animals develop and learn faster from a goat;
• kids have stronger immunity;
• milk does not lose nutrients when poured into a bottle.

The kid sucks the udder at will, the owner does not need to monitor feeding, which reduces labor costs. After 3 weeks, mineral supplements are introduced into the diet - 10 grams of bone meal, chalk. When the kid is 3 months old, the rate is doubled. When growing on natural feeding, the owner should monitor the condition of the goat's udder, milk off the rest of the milk to prevent mastitis.

Artificial feeding

Cubs are taken from dairy goats immediately after lambing and fed artificially. You also have to feed the kids if the goat is sick or the milk is gone.

Benefits of artificial feeding:

• preservation of commercial milk for consumption or sale;
• the ability to control the diet when feeding.

In the first days, colostrum and goat's milk are used for drinking, later - cow's milk, special mixtures, compound feeds. The norms are calculated according to the age and state of he alth of the kids.

Disadvantages of such feeding:

• labor for the formation of the diet, time for feeding the kids, washing dishes;
• impaired immunity and developmental delays in young animals.

For kids who do not receive mother's milk, it is important to introduce complementary foods according to age, use vitamin supplements. First, the kids are fed from bottles with nipples, if there are a lot of babies, the nipples are fixed in several pieces on a drinking bucket. Young animals are transferred to the trough later so that the kids do not choke and eat more than the norm.

Important: nipples need to be replaced in a timely manner, as the rubber gradually deteriorates, the size of the channels increases, babies swallow milk in large portions, choke.

Combination feeding

For feeding young dairy goats, it is better to use combined feeding. Method Features:

1. For the first few days, kids are fed by their mother. This allows you to lay the foundations for strong immunity - fresh milk contains everything necessary for the development of the baby.
2. After 4-7 days, the kids are weaned from the udder. The goat is being transferred to the dairy herd.

Kids eat in accordance with the developed diet, switch to artificial feeding. Complementary foods are received early, mineral supplements and milk formulas are combined to strengthen bones, immunity.

How many times a day to feed?

If a baby grows without a goat, receives feeding from a person, it is important to know the qualitative and quantitative norms. The following feeding frequency according to age is recommended:

• 1-4 days - 5-6 times a day;
• 5-30 days - 4 times;
• 1-3 months - 3 meals.

In the first days, only milk is included in the diet, by the end of the third month they drink only once a day, the rest of the meals consist of solid feed.

What can I give to goats?

Immediately after birth, the only food for kids is milk. Drinking colostrum is required to activate the body's defenses. The immunostimulating power of colostrum weakens after 3-5 days. How the diet changes over time:

• 1-10 days - colostrum, milk;
• from day 11 they introduce complementary foods - oatmeal or semolina porridge (1 tablespoon of cereal per 500 grams of water), diluted with milk before feeding;
• from a month they give carrots, cabbage, beets;
• mandatory components - bran, compound feed;
• grain;
• hay.

At home, the following products are used as a milk component:

• goat is ideal;
• you can give cow's milk in the absence of a mother from a goat;
• whole milk powder;
• substitute "Felucen".

Babies' stomach enzymes digest goat's milk better, so it's better to choose mother's milk for early feeding. The substitute is plant-based, making it cheaper.

Young animals should be transferred to the mixture gradually (within 4-5 days), replacing natural food with artificial in small portions.

How to make a diet for kids

It is important to feed a newborn kid with colostrum within the first hour. This stimulates the immune system, helps the release of feces, saturates the body with microflora from the mother.

In the future, the feeding scheme is as follows:

Root crops in gramsHay in grams1-2 3-4 5-10 4-5200-250 11-214 300200 300 350 250 51-603150 800 150100150 800

Age in days	Frequency feeding per day	Milk volume per 1 time in grams	Oatmeal for complementary foods in grams	Mixed feed in grams
5-6	50
5	80-110
					22-30	4
300	30				31-40	3
500	50	40	50		41-50	3
700	100	60	100
				61-70	3	150
200	200	150		71-80	3	150
200	250	200		81-90	3	150
300	250	250

Main features of feeding according to age:

1. From the first days, kids are fed every 3-3.5 hours with rubber nipples. It is better to use mother's milk. The colostrum of the first days of goats should be expressed, frozen, then heated in a water bath and watered for babies.
2. Chatter of oatmeal, jelly is given from 10-11 days.
3. By two weeks of age, the volume of milk is adjusted to 1.2 liters per day and no longer increased. The norm for 1 time is 300-350 milliliters. At 2 weeks old, young animals are introduced to hay or greens. Grass food is kept in the feeder all the time, so that the kids gradually get used to constant food, first lick, then eat at will.
4. In the third week, young animals are accustomed to concentrated feed, starting from 30 grams.
5. In a month, milk for feeding is diluted with water, mashed boiled potatoes, bran can be added to it. Monthly kids are accustomed to coarse food, root crops are gradually introduced in small portions. Young animals are released into the pasture, where the kids try to get food themselves.
6. At 2 months, roughage and grain become the basis of the diet. The share of milk does not exceed 30%. It is not economically viable to feed two-month-old animals with milk.

Changes in the diet are carried out slowly, new food is given in a small portion, the condition of the baby is monitored. Do not introduce several new components at the same time. When switching to roughage, babies sometimes experience a decrease in weight gain, digestive disorders. They choose high quality feed, include premixes.

At 3 months, the grown-up young animals are transferred to adult food, the childhood period ends. Feeding - twice a day according to the diet for goats:

• hay, fresh grass, silage;
• branches;
• vegetables, fruits and root crops by season;
• cereal ingredients - crushed wheat, oats, corn;
• legumes;
• compound feed;
• vitamin supplements, premixes.

In animal drinkers, clean water is constantly kept, the temperature of which is not lower than 12 °.

Important: to stimulate immunity from the first days, s alt, bone meal, fish oil, chalk are added to the food.

What not to feed

All baits must be introduced in small portions and in accordance with age, otherwise the stomach of babies will not be able to digest food.

Goat's milk substitutes are less useful, so for 1-2 weeks it is better to feed young animals with mothers. Not all components of fragrant herbs are equally useful for goats, and even more so for kids. Among the plants there are many harmful and poisonous. Dangerous are:

• poisonous plants for goats with the possibility of death - hellebore, wolf bean, fern;
• severe poisoning - nightshade, wild rosemary, succession, burdock, red clover, feather grass, thistle.

Babies are not given food that is tainted:

• old, stale hay;
• hay infested with insects;
• fermented silo;
• vegetables, root crops with traces of decay.

You cannot feed goats with natural feeding, give them to grown goats.

A thoughtful diet and strict adherence to the rules of feeding help kids quickly gain weight, grow cheerful and cheerful. After the appearance of young animals, the farmer has more worries. It is important to take care of the kids in the first months to get highly productive and he althy animals.

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