How to feed a goat in winter: the rules for making a diet at home

In the summer, a grazing goat independently regulates the goat breeder's mistakes in feeding, but in winter, the animal in the stall needs proper care and a suitable diet. Even experienced farmers do not always know what is recommended to feed a goat in winter, although this is not difficult. In order for the animal to receive the necessary vitamins, it is important to know which feeds are suitable for goats and how to combine them with each other.

Goat diet in winter

Food in winter goats should be combined. In order for the animal to receive the right amount of nutrients and vitamins from food, experienced farmers feed their livestock according to the principle: in the morning they give coarse dry food, and in the afternoon - concentrates, organic matter and a lot of hay.

It is important to monitor the purity and quality of the products that the animal will consume. Root crops such as carrots and beets should be free of contamination. Hay must be properly dried to retain its mineral content.

Roughage

In addition to hay and straw, which are best given to goats after dinner, the animal needs to eat roughage - branches, sticks, needles. If it is not possible to take the goats into the forest so that they can feast on the branches of trees and shrubs, you can prepare branch brooms at home. For brooms, you can cut branches from any trees, and dry them under a canopy.

The most suitable trees for making brooms:

linden;
birch;
oak;
maple;
aspen;
rowanberry.

In autumn, the blanks should be stored in a dry place, for example, in the attic. A goat needs 500 g of branch feed per day.

Juicy food

You need to feed your goat daily with silage, fresh vegetables and roots. The daily norm of succulent feed per adult is 2-3 kilograms. The role of such nutrition is important for maintaining he alth and increased milk production in females. Feed silo is made from:

tops;
mixtures of legumes and cereals;
waxy corn kernels;
soy;
melilot;
alfalfa.

Juicy foods include boiled potatoes, which can be mixed with crushed cereals. It is advisable to add a teaspoon of s alt and ground chalk to a mixture of boiled potatoes with grains.

Concentrates

It is important to introduce concentrated feed into the goat's diet so that the animal receives the right amount of vitamins and minerals throughout the winter. Concentrates contain a lot of proteins, fats, carbohydrates. These useful compounds can be impregnated with hay and straw. Concentrated formulations come in several forms:

carbohydrate, consisting of cereals;
protein made from beans and soy;
fatty, high in protein, such as rapeseed oil;
milk powder;
food organic waste;
fish bone meal;
compound feed.

Features of feeding an animal at home

Goats should be fed leaves every day. 3-4 kilograms of tops per day are enough for one head. The composition of this feed usually includes cabbage leaves, sugar beets, carrots. Chalk is added to the tops in order to neutralize the acidity of vegetables. Every day, one adult eats 500-600 grams of hay or straw.

It is enough for young animals to give half as much food. Also, a goat needs to eat 5-6 brooms per day.

During pregnancy

In order for future offspring to be born he althy, a pregnant goat needs to be given a little less root crops than usual. An excess of vegetables and roots can affect the development of kids in the womb, and they will be edematous. In this case, childbirth will be difficult, and the offspring will be born weak. Feeding schedule

Morning: 200 g grain and 600 g haulm with root vegetablesFrom 7 to 8 in the morningFeed 2 kg of hay or straw during the dayFrom 12 to 13 daysFor an afternoon snack, give grains, cereals and cake in a total of 400 gFrom 16 to 17 in the evening In the evening spread the hay in the feeders before sleeping animals




After 18-19 pm

The hay in the feeder of a pregnant female should be open to her. When she completely eats it, then another serving should be added. During pregnancy, goats are happy to eat brooms. You can give some needles along with the branches.

Cash goat

In order for the female to have a long lactation period, it is important to introduce more protein foods into her diet. In the winter diet, there must be concentrates with a high content of legumes and soy. In order for a goat to bring more milk, she needs to regularly eat juicy food. Milking females should be given more silage and root crops than dry food.

On average, a female needs 2 kilograms of root crops per day. Grains should be given less, up to 1 kilogram daily.

Feeding kids

Newborns usually feed on mother's milk and colostrum. If for some reason it is impossible to provide a goat with natural nutrition, then it is better to transfer it to a mixture of pasteurized goat's milk.For goats at an early age, roughage is contraindicated due to the fact that their digestive system will not be able to digest hay, branches or cereals. When the newborn is 11 days old, you can gradually transfer them to cereals.

After 21 days after birth, the goat is able to eat adult food. He can be given grated apples and juicy food. Gradually, the dose of milk in the goat's diet should be reduced. Instead of milk, the animal is given top dressing, chalk, s alt and bone meal. At the age of two months, the diet of a kid may be no different from that of an adult. The only difference is the size of the servings.

What should not be fed to a goat?

It is important to watch the diet of the animal and not give him monotonous food, for example, only silage and hay or grain with beans.The transition to winter nutrition should be smooth. Every morning you can give hay, and only then let it graze. This is necessary so that the goat can get used to fresh grass without stress. You can't force her to eat hay if she doesn't like it. The workpiece must be checked for rot or parasites.

When feeding, it is important to maintain a balance so as not to overfeed the animals with the same products. Despite the fact that concentrates are useful, you should not use them as feed all the time, as this can provoke the appearance of urolithiasis in a goat. Goats are unpretentious animals, and different foods are suitable for them. The main task of the goat breeder is to monitor the quality of the products and give them to livestock in the right proportions.