Grass fed dairy goats

Planing on getting goats next week
Wanting to be 100% forage fed
I plan on feeding grain for the first few months
So they can adjust, any other tips?
Also if someone else is doing that how’s it going?

Hi, Stephen

Welcome to the forum!

Where are you purchasing the goats?

My suggestion would be to ask the owner of the goats what they have been feeding their goats and when is the best time to convert to forage.

Best wishes for your goats.

I got the goats from some friends
They had them on pasture and grain.
I think I’ll feed grain till the end of the lactation
Then try grass fed next lactation
I can’t seem to find anyone doing this and wondered if someone here has tried it

Hi Stephen, can you share some more about what your place looks like for goats? Do you have mostly grass, mostly browse or a mix of both?

It is mostly just forage but it is a very diverse mix with legumes many different kinds of grasses plantain and other things from time to time I also try to cut tree branches for them so they can eat leaves. I’m currently moving them about every three days

What kind of goats are they and what is their milk production like?

In general, with the modern dairy animals, feeding grain or any other concentrated high protein feed it’s because they make so much milk, they can’t really get all their nutritional needs from just pasture or browsing, no matter how great those are. They will “milk off their back” if all those nutritional needs are not met.

If your goats are the high producing kind, you may never be able to keep them just on pasture or browsing. You might be able to get to a point where you don’t need to supplement their pasture/browsing if you selectively breed several generations for that purpose and cull mercilessly everything that doesn’t do well for your goal.

If, on the other hand, you do have low producing goats, the best feed for them would be a mixture of pasture that has lots of grasses and forbes and browsing of small bushes, branches of trees and the like.

Also very important, goats have very high and specific mineral needs, and that needs to be addressed depending on your region and how the soils are in that area.

The dairy goats, especially in the U.S. have been bred for high milk production with grain rations.  I’d like to see someone develop them without the grain input, the way some Jersey cow breeders have done.   The grain rations are not the best for a goat’s digestive system anyway.  I would settle for a lesser milk production doe, if she could hold her weight on forage.  Might have to supplement with a good legume mix hay to make sure they get enough protein, and keep those pastures highly mineralized to make them more productive.  Pasture/forage/browse during the day, hay racks always full at night and make sure they get a good free choice salt/mineral supplement formulated specifically for goats so it has the extra copper they need.  I think it is doable, but might take a few generations of intensive culling to get what you want.  

Thank you for your response! I’ll definitely keep those things in mind
So far the goats are doing very well

Hi there, we've been raising goats a few years on rotational areas. Highly recommend you get your fences set up before goats. You probably already considered this.

There is much to consider with goats, as others have mentioned mineral and nutritional needs. We rotate our goats weekly. It's pasture plus some woodsy-forage.
They have access to a barn, with mineral feeders, one side has Himalayan salt and the other has a mineral called sweet lix. Goats have mineral needs. Especially keeping the calcium/copper ratio right.

Rain water is better for goats than well water. Well water is high in minerals that can effect their calcium/copper ratios. It's common to see a coat lighten in color of black/red goats if this ratio is wrong. Plus their tail will look thin.

if you want goats for land cleaning, rotate through smaller areas more often. If you are seeking milk production grain/hay are likley needed. You will be amazed how quickly goats can clear an area. I think it's like 3-4 goats to clear an acre per week.

I only give gran to our milking doe. The goats get a flake or two of hay each eve. Rotating has helped reduce feed costs but not eliminated it.
best of luck. goats are amazing