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A Guide to Drought Feeding of Goats


A Guide to Drought Feeding of Goats

Information supplied by John Cropper BVSc for The Pet Directory

This is a guide for goat owners however similar principles can be used for cattle and sheep also...

Some important points to remember:

  • Maintaining live weight increases susceptibility to cold stress
  • Compared with when goats are fed to grow;
  • Hearing increases cold stress for 6 weeks;
  • Adult goats have higher critical temperatures compared with adult Australian sheep at the same live weight. When wet and windy conditions are forecast producers need to increase energy provision 3 to 4 days prior to the arrival of the weather. Susceptible goats should be moved to suitable shelter;
  • Feeds suitable for rapid introduction need to be kept;
  • If goats exhibit signs of being heat stressed, maintenance energy allowances should be increased by 7% during rapid shallow breathing and increased by 11 to 25% for deep open-mouthed panting.

Drought feeding should be started well before the goats reach their critical live weight. 

Critical live weight means the minimum live weight that will allow an animal to survive. Further weight loss may endanger the survival of the goats by leaving them too weak to walk, graze or safely get drinking water. As each flock of goats is different, you need to determine your own critical live weight. One method is to use a weight 30% less than the recent peak live weight plus 1kg for each year of age plus estimated fleece weight.

Goats have to be brought gradually onto cereal grain such as wheat, barley, triticale, maize, sorghum and commercial pellets or “sheep nuts” or any ration that is high in starch and low in fibre. This is required as a sudden change in diet can cause grain poisoning. The cereal grain ration should then be started at the rate of 50g per head per day for adult goats, (25g for weaners) and increased slowly at a rate of 50g every second day until the required ration is reached.

When goats are fed in groups, gorging is likely to occur, especially since a substantial proportion of animals (10-20%) could be shy feeders or non-eaters. Gorging will result in grain poisoning and possibly death. When roughage supply is limited or very expensive, it may be more cost effective to draft off the shy feeders and provide them with a ration of 35% roughage. The remaining goats may be fed less roughage. Research with goats fed whole grain wheat without an introduction period showed that slaked lime treated wheat diets reduced the incidence of grain poisoning compared to diets without slaked lime.

These results suggest that treating wheat with 2% slaked lime (Limil) is a practical method for rapid introduction of goats to high-energy grains. Ammonium chloride (0.5%) should be added to cereal grain to prevent formation of urinary calculi in wethers and bucks. Experience has shown that when feeding full drought rations of cereal grains to goats it is best to feed each day when there is little or no roughage available. It is possible to feed goats less frequently than daily when cereals make up a small percentage of the ration.

It is especially important to avoid sudden changes in the ration. If it is necessary to use a different grain, arrange the supplies early and mix the old grain with the new, gradually increasing the concentration over at least a week. In severe drought conditions it is suggested that kids could be weaned at about 10-13kg. At this age, the kids need very careful management and highly digestible rations. The idea of early weaning is to reduce the energy used to produce milk. This approach has not been clearly documented for goats but works for lambs.

It will pay to buy or retain a small proportion of hay early in the drought so that some roughage is available in autumn when pasture or crop residue is scarce. During lactation 30% of the ration should be good hay (less if pasture is available). Hay is also required for shy feeders and if full cereal grain feeding is required. When diets consist mainly of cereal grain, calcium must be added to prevent deficiency. Add 2% of finely ground agricultural limestone to cereal grain, i.e. 2kg per 100kg. Sodium is deficient in most grains. Common salt (sodium chloride) can be provided at 0.5%, but often water supplies have sufficient salt to alleviate the need to supplement. Vitamins, A and E, are the only vitamins likely to be deficient as a direct result of drought feeding. Long term feeding of grain will induce deficiencies of these vitamins.

Water

Goat owners should ensure that adequate water and shade is provided to all goats grazing dry summer pastures and during drought feeding, especially young and lightweight goats. Water intake of Angora goats grazing dry unshaded pastures has been measured as 50% greater than that of Merino sheep. When budgeting on a water allowance you can plan for average daily consumption (4 l/head/day). However this can change dramatically with the weather. On very hot days, intake will be greatly increased so you need to be able to supply the maximum rate (up to 9 l/head/day). Allow enough trough space so that 10% can drink at any time, or 15 metres of trough edge for 500 goats.

Evidence suggests that goats have similar or slightly greater tolerances to salt in water compared with sheep.

During drought the salt content of river and dam water can increase to high levels and should be monitored to ensure salinity remains at safe levels. Failure to monitor this can lead to death due to salt poisoning and this has occurred with goats in Australia in recent droughts. Algal blooms can occur where water has high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and temperature. Algal blooms can be toxic. High water magnesium levels can also be toxic. If water sources dry out or are changed during a drought, the goats should be led to new sources of water. Failure to carry this out will lead to animals dying at dry water holes.

Goats have longer legs than sheep and may venture further into muddy dams where they may become entrapped. Dams with deep muddy edges should be fenced to keep stock out, or inspected several times daily.


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