Friday, September 23, 2011

Feeding Dairy Goats From Forage Only


As we continue in our journey of learning about farming and ranching we realize that conventional ways of raising animals may not be the best path for us in some cases. In our situation it is our intent to not only raise animals for our family to consume either the animal or the products of the animal (eggs, milk, etc) but do it in the most sustainable way. For example most people raise diary goats on grains with some land for them to browse but have never done so with minimal grain inputs.

There are plenty of posts on forums where many people offer the opinion that it can't be done or your goats will produce milk but eventually will have health issues. After reading quite a few blog posts and searching Google I finally came across an article titled Forage Based Dairy Goat Management from Langston University in Oklahoma. If you're interested in reducing your feed costs for your bucks and dairy goat herd take some time to read the linked article.