![]() When comparing different breeding schedules, be sure to account for seasonal differences in costs and availability of high quality forage in order to insure reasonably priced, good quality forage for the does during late pregnancy and lactation, and for recently weaned kids.įorage can be preserved either by drying (hay) or pickling (silage, haylage and baleage). Lactating does and growing kids have the highest nutritional demands in a herd. ![]() The cost and availability of high quality forage can vary from farm to farm and season to season. during wetter times of the year or when leaves drop in the fall). Brush pastures are a likely habitats for deer, putting goats at higher risk of neurological damage from deer worm infection, particularly when snails and slugs, the intermediate host of deer worm are numerous (i.e. If the goal is to sustain brush, wait to graze brush in the spring until the plants are completely leafed out and avoid grazing in the fall when goats are likely to girdle the bark. Browse plants take a long time to recover from grazing and may only be able to be grazed once or twice per year depending upon how much defoliation occurs at each grazing unless the goal is to eradicate the brush. ![]() However, the degree of loss is less than for conventional pasture species. The nutritional value of brush pastures will also decrease over the grazing season as the vegetation matures. ![]() To keep pastures from becoming mature too early in the grazing season, pastures can be bush-hogged or grazed in between the goat grazing intervals by other animal species such as cattle or horses that are not hosts to the same worms. Because of this, goat pastures may need to be rested longer between grazing intervals than is optimum for forage quality. Goats are very susceptible to stomach and intestinal worms. Keep in mind that the mature stems of legumes (alfalfa, clover, etc.) and “C4” grasses (Sudan, Johnson, etc.) tend to be more lignified and thus, poorer in nutrition, than the stems of cool season “C3” grasses (Timothy, Orchard, etc.). This can be done through wise pasture management and/or the harvesting of forages at sufficiently immature growth stages so that they consist chiefly of leaves and less mature, pliable stems as compared to mature, brittle stems. When concentrate prices are high, one of the best ways to keep feed costs down is to invest in quality of forages. High quality forage and many grain byproducts (soy hulls, wheat middlings, etc.) are potential sources of fermentable fiber for goats. As an aside, this strategy results in goats naturally choosing to include as part of their diet, the fruit and seeds (grain) borne at plant growing points, rather than naturally limiting themselves only to a "grassfed" diet.Ī healthy goat’s diet should provide sufficient high quality fiber readily fermented by rumen bacteria to maintain rumen health. Rather, goats have a mobile upper lip allowing them to selectively choose the most fermentable plant fiber, the growing points of plants instead of mature parts and the leaves of plants over the stems. Therefore, they are not able to convert the more lignified (i.e., lower quality) fiber found in mature plant stems into nutrients that can be used for energy. This means that goat rumen microorganisms do not have as much time to break down plant fiber. Furthermore, the passage of food through a small ruminant is faster than through large ruminants. Not all plant fiber is readily fermented by rumen microorganisms.
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