MANY smallholders will opt for goat keeping for a variety of reasons. Similar to the smallholder cow, she will produce milk, cheese and meat, with the added benefit of skins from meat animals.

As we have previously observed, goats are herd animals and should never be kept alone and so my advice for feeding encompasses a range of ages and situations which you should be able to apply to your own needs. Goats are copper intolerant and so only "straight" feedstuffs or proprietory goat mixes should be used as a concentrate ration. Any mix made for cattle or horses is unsuitable and possibly dangerous in the long-term.

During the summer, the non pregnant doe will need good foraging in the field and hedgerows so that she will find the various types of herbage that her body demands. If the grazing and browsings are good, she will need little or no other food from the point where grass is 4cms high in the late spring until the protein levels drop in grazing towards the end of July. Your eye will be your best guide. She should look well covered with no clear definition of hips or ribs. If she is in milk, then supplementing her diet with up to 1.5 kgs of proprietory goat mix per day will maintain her weight whilst ensuring a constant milk supply.

Approaching the rut (from July to March): Work out when you anticipate taking the doe to the Billy goat and around four weeks before, increase her rations by up to kg of feed per day. Do not exceed more than 2 kgs per day. In any case this is only appropriate if your goat is producing between 4 and 8 pints of milk a day.

By late August or if the goat is coming in at night, she will need up to 3 kgs of hay or 2kgs of haylage a day too. Never ever feed silage to goats. Feed this in a hayrack which has a lid or in a small holed haynet (haylage net) which is tied high enough so that hooves or horns cannot get caught in it but low enough that the goat doesn't have to stand up on it to feed.

Haynets work well so long as these rules are observed to avoid entrapment by the haynet. Racks are best really but are a more expensive option. This can also be supplemented with good barley or oat straw but preferably not wheat which is not a good feed for most animals. If the goat is bedded on straw, you will find that she will pick this over when she first goes in but will soon lose interest when the bedding has become soiled the first time.

Supplement her feed whenever you can with interesting bits and pieces. Fruit, vegetables, baked bread. Do not give potatoes or potato peelings and make sure that all fruit and vegetables are chopped appropriately. If you are able to get supermarket reject vegetables and fruit, so much the better. Most supermarkets are happy to sell you their discarded fresh vegetables and fruit for a small fee and sometimes free. I normally put all the items in a large bucket and use a clean spade or hoe to chop the fruit and vegetables up. This also produces quite a lot of juices too which the goats really enjoy. Small quantities (no more than a cup a day) of SOAKED sugar beet can be used if the goat likes it but not all do. Alfa A is another popular choice for goat keepers but is really too short in length for goats to utilise effectively. Another product on the market is Readigrass which is longer fibre and perhaps more suitable but not the cheapest option. It is very important to feed long fibre, that's forage that is over four inches long such as hay or haylage and there really is no substitute for it so you need to seek out some quality hay or some reputable (and tested) haylage.

The feeding regime described, which will encompass the autumn, winter and early spring months will keep your in-milk doe and your pregnant doe in good condition. The in- milk doe will continue to produce milk on this diet and the pregnant doe, who's energy requirements will be similar, will also thrive.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, it will be necessary to reduce the concentrate ration (by about half) to prevent metabolic problems during late pregnancy and after the birth.

This reduction in concentrates should be continued for the first two or three days after kidding, for the same reasons and the fibre ration should be increased accordingly.

Feeding kids at weaning
If your kids are weaned at about four months of age then you may choose to supplement their feeding with milk or milk pellets until they are six months old. If they have been with the doe for at least half of the time up until now, then they will be well grown and this will probably not be necessary as the doe will have done a good job in weaning them off milk herself. Most kids become so rough by the time they are four months old that many mothers will not tolerate their feeding at all. However, you cannot generalise on this and so common sense must prevail.

The feeding regime for whethers will be similar to that which we have described except there will be no fluctuation in feeding pattern as they only have one job to do and that is eat! If they are destined for the table then feed them well but not to excess. Do not feed sugar beet to wethers as it can lead to urinary tract problems.

Bucks should be fed the same as a working doe. Care should be taken that they are getting a full quota of food in the six weeks or so leading up to the rut and if they are serving more than 10 does through the season then they may need a little more food. Again do not feed sugar beet and remember that there is no substitute for top quality long forage.

Pet goats, including Pygmies need a good varied diet without excess concentrate rations. Pygmy goats will eat approximately half of what a Saanen goat would eat as a comparison.

On a good balanced diet and reasonable natural browsings your goat should not really need any supplements but if you feel this is necessary, seaweed supplements, proprietory goat supplements such as Captivate (obtainable from Goat Nutrition website) and a mineral lick in the field or stall are all possible options. The mineral block should be a yellow one as it does not contain copper which as previously explained is dangerous for goats.