How to feed a goat to increase milk yield: increasing lactation at home

Traditionally, goats are bred for milk, meat, fluff, wool. Most often in the first place is milk and dairy products. To obtain it, it is desirable to purchase goats of dairy breeds. What to do if you bought a dairy goat, and she gives less milk than an ordinary, non-pedigreed goat? If you know how to feed a domestic goat to increase milk yield, then it is easy to increase it by one and a half, or even twice, regardless of the breed of the animal.

What to feed for goats to increase milk yield

Goats are small cattle. If you make the right diet to improve milk yield, then keeping a goat will not require large physical and financial costs.

Grass

You can increase milk yield when grazing and (or) feeding animals with cut grass. Goats are happy to eat grass not only in the pasture, but also when they are kept in stalls, they take it out of the feeders.

The most milk-producing herbs are considered:

nettle;
chamomile pharmacy;
oregano;
clover;
alfalfa;
coltsfoot.

Important! Clover, alfalfa and nettle should be given in dried form, so as not to cause disturbances in the digestive tract of animals. If possible, raspberry and strawberry leaves can be added to the diet of dairy goats.

The total amount of grass in the warm season should be up to 5 kg per day per head. Grass not only increases milk yield, but also improves the taste of milk.

Juicy food

The milk yield and fat content of milk is positively affected by feeding dairy goats with juicy feed. These include:

pumpkin;
zucchini;
fodder and sugar beets;
Jerusalem artichoke;
potato;
carrot.

If possible, at home, animals can be given some apples, pears, apricots and pitted plums. Fruit is washed, cut and fed to the animal in an amount of approximately 1 kg per day.

Juicy feed is given year-round, as many of them are well stored until the new harvest, and Jerusalem artichoke rhizomes can be dug directly from the ground from early spring. The amount of succulent feed per head may vary. It depends on individual preferences and the general diet of the animal.Usually give 2-3 kg of succulent feed per day.

Roughage

To get a good milk yield, no goat can do without roughage. These include:

straw;
hay;
branch hay.

For feeding dairy goats, it is best to use oat, barley and millet straw. Wheat straw is digested worse, and many animals simply refuse rye straw. Before you give the straw, it must be chopped with a knife or chopped with a special straw cutter. Do not feed dairy goats with old straw, dusty and worn to dust.

To increase milk yield, mixed grass meadow or forest hay is suitable. In it, the presence of timothy, bluegrass, plantain, dandelion, red clover, wheatgrass is desirable. Animals prefer fine hay, and it can also be chopped with a knife or passed through a special chopper.Hay should be in the daily diet of dairy goats at any time of the year. One goat will need about 2-3 kg of hay and straw per day.

Tree branches are also roughage. They are harvested in the form of brooms in the middle of summer. You can increase milk yield with branch hay from:

willows;
limes;
maple;
poplars;
birches.

Branches about 0.6 m long cut from trees are tied into brooms, dried and fed in winter, 2-4 brooms per animal per day.

Concentrates (grain feed)

You can increase the quantity and quality of milk with the help of concentrated grain feed. These include:

barley;
oats;
wheat;
corn;
sunflower meal;
soybean meal.

For better assimilation of grain, it is crushed using a special mill or grain crusher. It is important to remember that it is concentrated feed that dairy animals need as a source of protein. The amount of combined feed per head should be 300-600 g. At the beginning of lactation, the amount of concentrated feed should be greater, gradually decreasing towards the end of the milking period.

Supplements

Special swill for goats can significantly increase milk yield. It is prepared from water and crushed grains, cake. Usually they take 2-3 cups of a grain mixture of barley, wheat, oatmeal and pour 3.0-3.5 liters of boiling water. Stir and let cool.Then drink to the animal. To make the drink more attractive, you can throw a handful of dried apples or berries into it, add a little s alt.

Sometimes, instead of water, water is added in which pasta, potatoes were boiled. Such water without additives is an attractive drink for dairy goats.

Mixed feed (recipes)

Combined feeds are also used to get more milk. You can buy them ready-made or you can make your own. To increase milk yield, the second option is preferable. To prepare about 1 kg of feed will help the recipe for which you need:

rolled oats 200 g;
wheat bran 100g;
feed wheat 90g;
table s alt, 10 g;
sunflower meal, 100 g;
feed yeast, 50 g;
premix, 30 g.

Step by step instructions:

Soak yeast in 0.5 liter of water at a temperature of +32 degrees.
Stir, let stand for a quarter of an hour.
Combine with ground grain mixture and remaining ingredients, stir.
Keep for 5-6 hours, stir the mixture once an hour.

The finished mixture is fed to goats. At home, you should not cook such feed for future use.

High-yielding breeds

The most dairy breeds include the following:

zaanenskaya;
Nubian;
Toggenburg;
Russian;
Nubian;
Gorkovskaya.

High lactation should not be expected from goats of dairy breeds after the first lambing. Milk yields reach their maximum after the second or third pregnancy.

Why milk yield may fall

The drop in milk yield may be due to the sedentary content of goats. For normal lactation, animals must move quite actively. If it is not possible to graze them, then you need to equip a walking yard near the barn.

The reasons for the decrease in milk yield may be winter frosts, when the temperature in the barn is less than +6 degrees. A sharp change in feed, their poor quality also worsen this indicator. Milk yield is reduced in goats older than 8-9 years. This is due to age-related changes in the body.