Raising pet goats is such a fun experience, but feeding them the wrong diet could literally be deadly. We have raised goats that we sold as pets and also have had a few pet wethers around in addition to our milking herd.
Pet goats, especially neutered males, should rarely be fed grain. Grain in a diet of a goat who is not lactating or pregnant can lead to obesity and health problems and in wethers, can create urinary blockages that lead to death.
It can be tempting to feed your goats grain as a treat or because they just love it so much. But as their owner, it’s your responsibility to feed them a healthy diet that won’t create future illness. There is some interesting science behind how grain can make your goats sick and there are some easy substitutions you can make to what treats you feed your goats instead.
What Happens if I Feed My Pet Goat Grain?
Feeding your pet goat grain is a bad idea. I know your goats like it, and act like they would die without it. If you’re late feeding their grain, they probably yell at you like their life is ending! Trust me, they aren’t and they will learn the new grain-free routine in a few days to a week.
Grain is a high energy – high calorie feed designed for growth or supporting pregnant and lactating does. It’s not meant for animals that aren’t “working” (via growth or becoming a mama goat). Feeding grain regularly or as a frequent treat to pet goats is a recipe for disaster. They can and will die as an immediate result of being fed grain when they didn’t need it!
Feeding grain once in a while to a pet goat is okay, although not desirable. A handful of grain every few weeks (no more frequently than that) is not going to kill them. Using grain on a milk stand for hoof trimming every few months is completely fine. As a goat owner, you have to balance their needs to raise the healthiest goats – hoof health is very important and if a little grain helps that process be smoother and happen on schedule, then you go ahead and do it. As long as you’re not feeding grain regularly or feeding excess grain in one session, this is an acceptable process.
The exact consequences of over-feeding grain to your pet goats depends on the sex of the goat, but either way it’s not good for them. Females will have a different response than a male. If a female goat who is not lactating or pregnant is overfed grain, she will start to gain weight and become overweight, which is a lot more serious in goats than in humans. Overweight goats put on weight in ways that affect their hormones and their hearts. The fat around their hearts can cause them to die suddenly of a heart attack. The additional weight they carry around could cause early arthritis and joint problems, and lead to other long-term health problems.
Feeding grain to wethers (castrated males) causes death much more quickly and much more often than with girls. Really, feeding grain to wethers is just creating a ticking time bomb that will eventually catch up to you. Grain causes urinary calculi in male goats. It can cause it in all goats but the urethra is shaped different in does than in males so it isn’t often a problem in does. In bucks (intact males), the urethra grows to its full size and its easier to pass any urinary calculi. But by wethering male goats, the growth of the urethra never fully completes so the urinary stones get caught in the urethra and prevent the goat from urinating.
Urinary calculi can be treated, but the success rate is very low. If your pet goat has urinary calculi and you can’t get the stones to pass, they will die on their own in severe pain or else need to be euthanized before it gets that bad. This is the ticking time bomb! Any male goat who is frequently fed grain will eventually die of urinary calculi. It can be in a few months or in a few years, but it will happen. So please, don’t do it!
The Science Behind Feeding Wethers Grain
Urinary calculi in male goats is caused by an imbalance in the calcium to phosphorous ratio. Goats need different levels of minerals and vitamins depending on their sex and their stage of life. Are they bucks in breeding season? Are they pet goats? Are they pack goats? Are they pregnant or lactating? Are they young? All of these answers change the nutrition requirements of the goat.
Grain fed to males creates an imbalance in those key minerals that causes these urinary stones to be created in the kidney and get stuck in the urethra as they are being expelled. Small stones can pass on their own but larger ones will get stuck and either partially or completely block the urethra and prevent the expulsion of urine.
As you can imagine, not being physically able to pee is an acute emergency and will result in catastrophic results if not treated. Ammonium chloride can be used to treat urinary calculi by breaking the stones up so they are small enough to be passed, but it’s not always effective and overuse can actually limit its effectiveness in the future. Feeding a wether grain that contains ammonium chloride will not prevent urinary calculi from forming and eventually killing them.
Surgery can sometimes be performed to save the goat, but the odds of the goat getting stones again and the high cost of the surgery in general makes it a very poor option for both the goat and the owner. Don’t feed them grain and make this almost a nonissue!
How Much Grain Can I Feed My Goat as a Treat?
Grain can be fed sparingly to goats as a special treat. But it should be kept carefully under control because the amount of grain that you feed your goat can cause multiple health problems. Feeding grain to a wether could literally kill it from urinary tract blockages caused by calcium stones. That’s clear and proven and will happen eventually if you’re feeding grain – from months to years.
Another thing to consider with feeding grain as a treat is that feeding too much grain too quickly and suddenly can cause bloat in your goat. Bloat occurs when the acidity and balance of the rumen are off, causing gas to build up instead of being expressed through normal means. Bloat, if not treated, will cause death. It’s important to have baking soda as a free choice option for your goats, but avoiding bloat altogether is better.
Feeding a handful to a cup of grain per goat at a time is okay as an occasional treat. Any more than that could risk the health of your pet goats who really just don’t need grain to be happy and healthy.
Can I feed my Pet Goat Grain if She’s a Girl?
Female goats can handle grain better than male goats. Unlike in males, the urethra is straighter and wider, so there is much less concern about calcium stones blocking the urethra like with males. This means that grain is less likely to cause your goat to die a sudden death from urinary calculi.
However, that doesn’t mean that you have free rein to give your pet goat grain just because she’s a girl. Grain is designed to provide calories and nutrients to growing, pregnant, and lactating does. Giving grain regularly to a pet doe will result in obesity in the animal and other health problems that will shorten your pet goat’s life span.
The occasional treat for a pet doe is less worrisome than with a castrated male, but all grain should be given to pets in moderation.
Easy Treat Substitutions
Grain is commonly used as a treat for goats but there are many other options for you to use that won’t result in the same dire health problems. Grain can cause health issues in both male and female goats, so avoiding grain altogether is the best solution.
Instead of grain, you can give your goats other treats. Most of the time, you will have to try a treat a few times before they take to it, but they will enjoy them eventually! Animal crackers are a common treat that are well-tolerated by goats, affordable, and they go crazy for them.
Some other options come from the produce section of the grocery or your garden. Bananas, oranges, berries, pears, any greens like kale or spinach, cabbage, etc. These all make delicious treats that your goats will love. Treats like these will also help you keep moderation in mind, because the cost of giving these regularly will add up. Remember, goats don’t need any of these things to be healthy. They need a balanced diet designed for a goat and made up mostly of hay.
In the fall, pumpkins are a great treat for your goats and some even say the seeds help with natural deworming. Not all goats take to pumpkins right away, so don’t give up. Crack the pumpkins open for them and they will eat the seeds and the flesh from the skin. Once they get a taste for pumpkin, they will go wild for it. It’s also a great treat because it will last a few days as they eat a bit each day and it doesn’t go bad.
Giving Minerals to Your Pet Goat Without Using Grain
“Grain” is not just about feeding calories to your goats. Most goat grain is pelletized or textured and is combined with minerals and vitamins to help provide balanced nutrition to your goats without having to feed anything extra. If you’re feeding grain as a main feed source and relying on it to provide the mineral needs for your animals, you will need to provide another source of minerals for your goats.
We’ve established that feeding grain to any pet goat is a bad idea. But grain does contain vitamins and minerals that your goat needs. The solution here is to feed loose minerals to your goat free choice – NOT a mineral block: goats aren’t able to effectively use mineral blocks to get the volume of minerals they need to be healthy.
Loose minerals are just that – a blend of minerals and vitamins that are pre-packaged (unless you’re doing a mineral buffet). The texture is like powdery sand with a coarseness that varies across different brands. You offer these minerals in a feeder that you always keep full and that your goats always have access to. This is free choice feeding – the goats can come take mineral whenever they want – of their free choice. If the goats need more minerals because the hay they’re eating now is poorer quality, they eat more. They self-regulate their mineral intake this way!
When you stop feeding grain, get them access to free choice loose mineral within one week so that you are not creation a mineral deficiency or imbalance. My favorite brand of mineral is Sweetlix Meat Maker (for all goats), but you may find a different brand that you prefer. Not every brand is created equal!
