How to knit brooms for a goat. Branch feed: brooms for feeding goats. General characteristics of feed and feeding goats

Most common in goat breeding the central regions of Russia received stall-pasture keeping of animals. The stall period lasts 180 days, pasture - 185.

During the stall period, goats are kept in a base (preferably without a leash) on a straw bed with open access to the room and access to the walking yard. On sunny days during the day, goats are let out for a walk for 4–5 hours, on frosty days, for 1–2 hours. as well as improving their quality. Only in case of severe frost, snowfall, snowstorm or snow cover of more than 10 cm, animals are kept indoors.

In the diets of goats during their stall or semi-stall content, there is a significant specific gravity occupied by hay and humic feed (straw, chaff). Particularly valuable is the small-stalked hay of legumes and cereal grasses mowed during the flowering period, well preserved during the harvesting period. The daily norm of hay for goats is as follows: for queens - 1.8 ... 2.2 kg, for goats - 2.5 ... 3, for kids up to a year - 0.8 ... 1 kg. In rations, hay should account for at least 30% of the feed in terms of total nutritional value.

Hay should be dry, but not dry (humidity up to 17%). In good weather, hay is stored for storage on the second day after mowing. In such hay, leaves, small stems are preserved. Wet hay is dried under sheds, which are covered with a film.

Of the humic feeds, the best is straw - pea, lentil, legume, bean, as well as spring cereals. The straw of winter grains is badly eaten by goats. For better digestibility of straw, it is advisable to crush, calcinate, steam, flavor with concentrates.

The most common method of processing straw for feeding is shredding. Straw cuttings (2-3 cm long) are moistened with warm salt water (500 g of salt per 10 buckets of water) and kept in a wooden box for up to 18 hours, then flavored with concentrates or tubers. As a result, the palatability, nutritional value and digestibility of such straw increase dramatically. It is not recommended to store the soaked cut.

In down and wool goat breeding, the following approximate daily rates of feed distribution during the stall period are provided:

a) young one-year-olds: hay 2 kg, including cereal-legume 1 kg, concentrates for goats - 0.5 and goats - 0.3 kg, legumes 1 kg, concentrates before goat - 0.3 and during suction until the appearance good pastures - 0.4 kg;

b) adult uterus: hay 2.5 kg, including cereal-legume 1 kg, silage 1.5 ... 2 kg; in addition, during early spring goating, concentrated feed is added to the daily norm at the rate of 0.2 kg per day for two months before goat goat and 0.4 kg during suction;

c) adult goats: hay 2.5 kg, including cereals and legumes 1 kg, concentrates 0.5 kg, succulent feed 1.5 ... 2 kg; in the pre-mating and breeding periods, the rate of issuance of concentrates is increased to 1.5 kg per day;

d) goatlings: before weaning with stall keeping and poor pastures, starting from the age of one month, give concentrates at the rate of 0.1 ... 0.2 kg per day, preferably cereal-bean hay ad libitum; after beating, goats are fed with concentrates at the rate of 0.3 kg per head per day, goats - 0.2 kg.

The diet of a dairy goat in autumn and winter period s consists mainly of hay, concentrated and succulent feed, as well as mineral additives. For adult goats daily rate the distribution of feed may consist of the following set: cereal hay (forbs) - 1.2 ... 1.4 kg, legume hay - 0.5 ... 0.7 kg, succulent feed - 1.5 ... 2, 5 kg, concentrates (rolled oats, rolled oats) - from 0.3 ... 0.5 to 0.8 kg, table salt - 13 ... 15 g, disodium phosphate - 12 ... 15 g.

As the experience of many goat breeders testifies, brooms and autumn leaves serve as an extremely valuable feed additive during the stall period.

Brooms are usually harvested in in large numbers. Although sometimes goats were given only brooms as roughage during the entire stall period: two large willow brooms per day and 400 ... 500 g of hay. Goats in this case gave milk up to goats, and already a week after giving birth, they received 4 ... 4.5 liters of milk from them. In summer, milk yield reached 6 liters.

The value of brooms in the nutrition of goats is enormous, it is best to give a goat a broom a day, and if this is not possible, then at least half a broom every other day. For one goat, you need to prepare at least 80..100 brooms.

Brooms are prepared from branches of willow, birch, aspen, maple, ash, mountain ash. Willows are considered the best. Birch trees are fed to a limited extent, alternating with brooms of other tree species, otherwise they can cause inflammation of the kidneys.

They begin to knit brooms from June 5 ... 10, when young shoots grow and heat is established. It is convenient to cut branches with secateurs. The thickness of the ends of the branches at the cut should not exceed 1 ... 1.5 cm. Cutting should be done either late in the evening or early in the morning, when the trees grow and valuable substances accumulate in them.

After cutting, the branches are laid out on the ground for several hours for easy drying and so that vitamin D is formed in them under the influence of sunlight. Such dried branches are easier to tie with twine or plastic twine. In the butt, the broom should be no thicker than 18...20, 80...100 cm long. Brooms are dried in the shade in the attic of the house or in the shed, hanging on rows of poles or on nails on the walls. A month later, they are folded in several layers on the grating.

How much hay does a goat need for the winter? This question is popular among novice farmers. It is especially relevant in the central regions of our country, where the stall period lasts 6-7 months. Indeed, from mid-October to mid-April, it is impossible to graze goats on pastures here. Let's try to figure out how much and how to harvest hay, what other food to give goats in winter.

Hay is the main food for goats in winter. It stimulates digestion, contains the main nutrients needed by animals. At one time, the goat is fed about two kilograms of dry grass. Goats eat twice a day, which means they need 4 kilograms of ready-made hay per day. This means that 400-500 kilograms of this feed should be prepared for one goat. It is advisable to make an additional supply of dried grass, about 100-200 kg per individual. After all, in extreme cold the animals are fed more frequently, and some of the hay may go bad.

Breeding domestic goats require more food than females. One male per day needs 5-6 kg of roughage. This means that about 600-700 kilograms should be prepared for the winter. The needs of the young must be taken into account. Kids eat 30-40% less food than adult animals. For a day, one goat will need 1.5-2 kg of dry grass. The amount of hay per offspring should be calculated if mating was made in the fall and there are pregnant goats in the herd. Kids will be born in February or March, after a couple of weeks they need to be given complementary foods, and there is still not enough green fresh food on pastures at this time.

How to store hay and prepare for the winter

We figured out how much hay a goat needs for the winter. Now we will tell you how to prepare and store it. Mowing is best done in June or the first half of July, before the grasses begin to bloom. During flowering, the quality of hay decreases, the grass becomes tough, contains a lot of fiber, loses vitamins and nutrients. Leaves should prevail in hay, they contain three times more protein and 9.5 times more vitamins than stems. Cereal crops are mowed in the initial period of heading. Legumes - at the opening of the first buds.

Best of all, goats eat meadow, forest and steppe hay. It should contain legumes (clover, alfalfa) because they are the main source of protein. Chamomile has a positive effect on digestion, serves to prevent intestinal infections, and increases milk yield. But a large amount of these flowers in the hay makes the milk bitter. Tansy, wormwood has the same properties. You need to mow hay in dry weather, closer to dinner, so that the dew disappears. They dry it in the meadows, then put it in stacks. You can not harvest hay on wet pastures, it dries poorly, often rots.

Store stocks of hay in a separate room. If you put it in the attic above the barn, it will pick up the smell of secretions, and the goats will not want to eat it. The storage place must be dry and protected from rain. How to equip the room is easy to see in the photo. In winter, dry hay is turned over from time to time so that it does not rot and rot. Spoiled dry grass, with mold and signs of decay, should not be fed to goats. They will either not consume it, or they will get sick.

Branch food for goats

Goats are happy to eat dry brooms with leaves in winter. The following trees are best suited for harvesting:

• Birch
• Acacia
• Ash
• Hazel
• Aspen

Dry nettle and quinoa are suitable for goats, such brooms are given once a week. Branches are harvested in June or July, until the leaves become too rough and have less fiber. Branches are cut no thicker than one centimeter in diameter. Their length is 50-60 centimeters. Bunches are knitted 10-12 centimeters in thickness, they are intercepted with a rope made of natural threads; wire or synthetic twine cannot be used. Dry in a place protected from direct sunlight and rain. In winter, a goat eats 1-2 brooms from branches per day. Therefore, you should prepare about 100-150 pieces per animal. Goats willingly eat fallen leaves. They are harvested in the middle of autumn, collected in bags and dried thoroughly. For one goat, you need to stock up about 400 kg of sheets, they can replace brooms.

Other winter foods

The winter diet of domestic goats includes concentrated and succulent feed. It is allowed to give animals compound feed intended for cows. Its amount should not exceed 0.5-1.5 kg per day. Too much concentrated feed leads to goat obesity and reduced productivity. It is advisable to give compound feed in a wet form, along with swill. Sometimes they are added to hay. Goats also willingly eat bran, pea and corn flour.

From succulent feed give silage, root crops, kitchen cleaning. Beets, carrots are fed raw, potatoes must be boiled. A goat will need about 2-4 kg of raw root vegetables and 1-2 kg of boiled potatoes per day.

From time to time, small potatoes are fed raw. Carefully monitor that green tubers do not get into the feed. Cleanings from the kitchen are sprinkled with pea flour, bran or mixed fodder. You can add food leftovers from the table to food (soups, cabbage, boiled potatoes). You can’t feed a goat with sour waste, it gets sick from them.

You can diversify the diet in winter with hay dust or leaves. They are steamed with boiling water and soldered to goats in a warm form. In addition to nutritious swill, it should be given to animals clean water. Goats drink about 2-4 liters per day. The temperature of the water should be 6-10 degrees, approximately the same as in the room. Drinking too cold is harmful for goats, because it causes them to catch a cold. Warm water will spoil the animals, they will become more sensitive to cold, they will start to get sick more often.

Wild-grazing goats often eat celandine and other poisonous plants in small quantities.

Every goat breeder thinks about what kind of feed can be given to goats and which ones cannot be included in the diet for animals. Hay, green grass, haylage, concentrates, root crops - this is what to feed a goat, but it is important to know about the norm and the presence of toxins and hazardous substances in them. Some foods can cause poisoning even when fed in small quantities, while other goats eat without any consequences. Poisonous and harmful plants, often growing in abundance on natural hayfields and pastures, causing poisoning and death of animals, cause great damage to goat breeding. The danger of poisoning increases if animals stay in a new area, especially a low-yielding pasture, for a long time and, after eating good fodder plants, are forced to eat inedible and poisonous herbs.

What to feed a goat

Feeding is the most important basis for a goat's productivity. Whatever breed your goat is, no matter what conditions you create for it and no matter how hard you try to take care of it, if you do not provide it with a complete diet, then it is not possible to get a good milk yield (fluff, kids). In the article we will talk about how to feed a goat, and about products that should either be excluded from the diet or carefully rationed.

What does a goat's diet consist of:

• concentrates (grain, cake);
• roughage (hay, straw, haylage, branch fodder);
• succulent feed (grass, silage, root crops);
• additives (minerals, vitamins).

When compiling a diet, its usefulness, diversity and constancy are taken into account. So that milk productivity does not jump day by day (either a bucket or a teaspoon), and there is no trouble with health, it is necessary that the daily diet is approximately the same throughout the year. Of course, there are differences between feeding in winter and summer, but the transitions between them should be made as smooth as possible.

Hay is the main food for goats

General characteristics of feed and feeding goats

• Cereal grains and their by-products are typical high energy feeds for dairy goats, but they are low in protein.
• Cereal grains are an excellent source of rapidly fermentable carbohydrates (starch) which, when added to feed, increases the energy level of the diet. However, excessive addition of grains to the diet reduces chewing activity, disrupts the functioning of the rumen and reduces the percentage of fat in milk.
• By-products of brewing and grain distillation are good sources of slow-digesting carbohydrates and protein.
• Root vegetables and tubers are excellent sources of fast-fermenting carbohydrates, but are low in protein.
• By-products of the sugar industry are highly digestible fiber (beet pulp) or simple sugars (fodder molasses) making them highly palatable feeds.
• Oilseeds contain lipids and are therefore high energy feeds.
• Cake meal is a typical "protein feed" for a dairy goat. Legume seeds contain harmful substances, but after correct processing they are a good energy and protein source.
• Animal proteins are resistant to rumen degradation and are good sources of calcium and phosphorus. They must be subjected to special treatment to avoid the risk of bacterial infection.
• Since legumes contain more calcium than grains, a diet primarily composed of legumes requires less supplemental calcium.
• Due to the fact that roughage (forage) contains less phosphorus than is required for a dairy goat, in most cases, phosphorus supplements are needed in the diet.

For feeding, several types of feed of the same type should be prepared. So, as concentrates for goats, barley, wheat, sunflower cake should be used. In addition to hay, branches and haylage are necessarily given. Silage is supplemented with carrots, potatoes, cabbage. But the goat must receive all these products daily, you cannot make it so that today you feed the goat with one hay, and tomorrow they give concentrates with silage.

The danger of poisoning increases in the spring: during the winter stall keeping, the animals do not receive green fodder and, when grazing, greedily, indiscriminately eat any grass.

It is important to plan your feed stocks for the year. If you have a deficit of hay, then it is better to start adding a little straw right away than to abruptly replace the hay with barley cutting in the spring.

Green food

Green fodder is the aerial part of fodder plants fed fresh to animals. This type of feed is the cheapest source of readily available nutrients for farm animals. It accounts for up to 25–35% of energy nutritional value in the annual feed structure of the farm, and 75–85% or more in the diets of the summer period of goats.

In feeding and most often used the following crops:

• cereals - perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass, team hedgehog, meadow bluegrass, awnless bonfire, foxtail, bent grass, high fescue;
• legumes - clover, vetch, alfalfa, peas, lupins;
• cruciferous - oil radish, winter and spring rapeseed, fodder cabbage, colza.

Green fodder is rich in carotene and protein, especially in the early phases of vegetation (budding, heading), the concentration of which decreases as the plants mature, and the content of dry matter and fiber increases. Legumes and grasses are the main source of roughage for dairy animals. On the early stage ripening, these herbs are an excellent source of protein, carotene, calcium and other minerals.

Green grass can be given fresh, or it can be crushed and added to the mash.

Green cutting is a mass of fodder plants, which, after mowing, are crushed in the field, then fed to farm animals in stalls. In this way, cereals and legumes, Sudanese grass, corn and sorghum, rapeseed, winter rye, as well as leftovers are used. vegetable crops. This is the easiest way to get food. The advantage of green fodder is a high collection of nutrients per unit of land area, lower labor and cost compared to harvesting hay, haylage or silage.

Silage

Silage is the main succulent fodder in winter. 1 kg of silage contains 0.16–0.20 fodder. units, 1.8–2.3 MJ of metabolic energy, 11–15 g of digestible protein, 15–20 mg of carotene. Preservation of feed during ensiling is ensured by conservation with lactic and partially acetic acids in the absence of air access. In the process of ensiling with lactic acid bacteria, feed sugar is fermented into lactic (partially acetic) acid.

The main silage crop is corn. More promising crops are currently recognized as Sudan grass, sorghum and sorghum-Sudan hybrid. The accumulated experience in the farms indicates high efficiency mixed sowings of silage crops with vetch, peas, bean and cereal mixtures, cultivation of corn using grain technology.

Silage is a good food for a dairy goat

haylage

Haylage is grass fodder dried to a moisture content of 55% or less, harvested under anaerobic (without air) conditions. Preservation of haylage is achieved as a result of insufficient water content in dried plants for most of the bacteria.

Haylage technology:

1. Mowing and flattening grasses;
2. Tedding mass in swaths and raking into rolls, their wrapping;
3. Selection of mass from rolls, grinding, loading into vehicles;
4. Laying mass in trenches, towers, plastic bags and its compaction by technical means;
5. Shelter of mass in storages with synthetic film.

Roots

Preparation for feeding consists in sorting root crops, removing spoiled ones, cleaning from the ground and, if necessary, washing. After washing, root crops are crushed or fed as a whole. Shredded root crops are mixed with silage, straw cutting, concentrates. Root crops should be crushed immediately before feeding and for no more than one cottage, since in this form they quickly deteriorate, turn black, and lose juice.

Rutabaga before feeding because of the bitter taste is steamed, carrots can be given together with the tops as a whole or from a crushed form. Fodder and sugar beets after cleaning from the ground and subsequent washing are fed to animals in their raw form, both with whole roots and in the form of cuttings. Cutting thickness - 0.5–1 cm. It is not recommended to store chopped beets for more than 2–3 hours, as it darkens, is poorly eaten by animals, loses nutritional properties. Boiled sugar and fodder beets should not cool for a long time, as this can form nitrates and nitrites, which are the cause of animal poisoning.

Features of root crops

• Juicy food with high palatability
• High starch content (tapioca) or simple sugars(sugar beet), which are quickly fermented (fermented) in the rumen.
• They contain a large amount of water (80%), which, if consumed in large quantities, can limit the intake of other feeds.
• Have a low protein content< 10%).
• They need to be crushed before feeding, otherwise the goat may choke, swallowing large pieces.

Beets and potatoes are the main root crops for feeding a goat

Straw

Feeds consisting of cereal straw are usually of low quality, low in protein and minerals, but high in lignin-rich fiber. Of all cereals, oat straw is best absorbed, then barley straw, and wheat straw is in last place. Pregnant goats that do not produce milk can be fed wheat straw, but supplemented with good hay, or supplements with a crude protein content of 30% to 40%. In addition, the addition of a phosphorus mineral is necessary.

Corn, wheat, barley, rye, oats and rice are the main sources of straw, however, in our country, barley and wheat straw are most often used for feed. Oat straw is preferred for feeding, but due to the low production of oats, the amount of this straw is very limited. In general, straw should not make up more than 5-10% of the feed volume.

Straw should be fed in limited quantities

Sugar cane pulp

Cane bagasse is the fibrous residue after the mechanical extraction (extraction) of sugar from cane. Sugarcane bagasse is sometimes used as fuel in factories. It is a low quality feed with a high content of indigestible fiber. However, this product can be used as the main source of roughage in the goat's diet. The pulp has the ability to absorb a large amount of feed molasses. With this combination, the allowable content of feed molasses should not exceed 25%, otherwise the animal starts diarrhea.

collected beet tops fed to animals, starting with a small amount mixed with other feeds. A high content of oxalic acid in case of a sudden transition to this food or large dachas can cause indigestion in animals.

The aerial parts of sugar and fodder beet are usually left on the field, but they can be used as fodder. Heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers on these crops can lead to nitrogen buildup in the plant's leaves, making them toxic to goats. In addition, nitrates contain a large amount of oxalic acid, which binds calcium and makes it practically inaccessible to animals for absorption.

Beet tops are suitable for fresh ensiling and feeding goats

Despite the fact that the aerial part of sugar beet has, in comparison with the remains of other crops, a low content of fiber and a large amount of protein, it is a poor quality feed. During harvesting, the aerial part of the beet is easily contaminated with earth.

Ensiling is the cheapest and most affordable way to preserve tops. However, it is possible to obtain good silage from sugar beet tops only with strict observance of the technology. The haulm should be ensiled immediately after harvest. Silage made from the aerial parts of beets can cause severe diarrhea in animals if the leaves are not dried beforehand (drying is rarely possible due to weather conditions). This type of feed is recommended to be used in small quantities and only in critical situations when other feeds are not available.

Goat feeding video

What foods should be limited?

Although goats are considered one of the smartest pets, they can also eat poisonous food. Some foods can only be given in small amounts:

A misconception is the ban on feeding goats with unpeeled sunflower seeds. Animals easily eat cake, which contains this peel in large quantities. When feeding with seeds, one should be more wary of a high fat content - overfed and overweight goats drastically reduce productivity.

Poisonous can be not only wild, but also well-known to us cultivated plants- millet, sorghum, Sudanese grass, buckwheat, beets, corn, etc. These plants should be classified as conditionally poisonous, since they can accumulate a variety of toxic substances only under certain conditions. Not only grasses and cultivated plants are poisonous, but also some shrubs and trees.

Poisonous and dangerous food

A significant part of animal feed poisoning is caused by poisonous plants found in pasture herbage and hay. Therefore, it is necessary to know well growing in different areas kinds poisonous plants, their places of growth, the toxins acting in them, the conditions for the formation and accumulation, and the localization of toxic substances in parts of plants.

Finely dispersed feed can cause a blockage of the book. Feeding in large quantities of chaff, cereal husks is unacceptable. Also, the blockage causes eating sawdust from the litter, earth and sand when the feed is clogged.

Poisonous Plants:

• Lupine is poisonous in hay, contains alkaloids. In goats, it causes convulsions and reproductive dysfunction. Lupine contains a fungus that produces mycotoxins that damage the liver. Death occurs from respiratory paralysis;
• The fern is poisonous at all stages of development and in hay. The enzyme thiaminase, an antagonist of vitamin B1 in fern, accumulates in the body and causes a deficiency of thiamine in the horse, resulting in problems with coordination of movements, slowing down the development and growth of the body. Death occurs due to internal bleeding;
• Hellebore contains alkaloids veratin, protovetrin A and B, neurin, etc. A toxic dose of 400 g. nervous system. Death occurs due to paralysis of the respiratory system. Toxic in hay.

Goats can be given raw and boiled potatoes, but without signs of rot, greening

Sprouted and green potato tubers contain glucoalkaloid solanine. Goats should not be given raw potatoes with green skin. The water in which the potatoes were boiled is also dangerous. Solanine is also found in fresh potato tops. It can only be fed ensiled mixed with other plants.

Plants that disrupt digestion:

• Bodyak (aster) - leaves and inflorescences are covered with spines, damaging the mucous oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract;
• Bristle (annual cereals) - spikelets are covered with long hairs that form bezoars in the stomach of a goat;
• Tyrsa, feather grass (cereals) - long thin awns damage the mucous membranes and skin;
• Trailer (umbrella) - the fruits are covered with thorns, often clog grain feed, causing injury to the gastrointestinal mucosa.

Flaxseed cake contains the glucoside linamarin. Cake can be fed only in dry form, as its toxic properties are manifested in contact with warm water.

Cruciferous cakes (mustard, rapeseed, colza, camelina) contain harmful substance- mustard oil. These cakes are fed only to adult goats, not more than 0.5-1 kg per head per day in dry form. Goats can be given in the form of boiled mash when the mustard smell disappears.

Hemp cake contains harmful narcotic substances that cause colic, diarrhea, abortion. You can feed it no more than 2.5 kg per day. Hemp cake should not be given to goats and pregnant goats.

Fungal infections of plants

Grains of agricultural crops often suffer from fungal diseases. One such disease is ergot. Rye is most often affected, and in wet years it is largely manifested on wheat, barley, oats, millet, timothy, fescue and other cereal grasses. The strong susceptibility of rye to ergot is explained by the duration of flowering and the peculiarities of the structure of its flowers, which are characterized by cross-pollination, and they are open for a long time.

Fungal infections of wheat cause severe poisoning

With the defeat of ergot ears of rye during their ripening, instead of grains, sclerotia of the fungus (horns) of an oblong shape are formed. In the grain mass, ergot occurs in the form of oblong black-violet horns, having a length of 2–40 mm and a thickness of 3–5 mm. To combat the infection of winter rye crops, as well as other cereal crops, it is necessary to apply a set of the following agrotechnical measures:

• thorough cleaning of grains of rye and other cereal crops from ergot horns on grain cleaning machines;
• timely (before flowering) mowing of cereal grasses along the borders of fields, roads, edges, ravines;
• carrying out approbation of crops in order to establish the infestation with ergot and the allocation of healthy seed plots;
• timely harvesting of grain crops with preliminary separate harvesting of the marginal strips, where, as a rule, plants are more affected by ergot;
• stubble peeling and subsequent deep autumn plowing, which ensures the incorporation of sclerotia to a great depth to prevent their germination;
• crop rotation, with the return of cereals affected by ergot not earlier than after 2 years.
• chemical treatment of rye seeds with the use of fungicides;
• use of ergot-resistant varieties.

Video about poisoning and dangerous goat feed

Feeds that impair productivity

Dairy and other types of productivity of goats are highly dependent on feeding: the composition of the diet, the quality of the products. But some feeds can affect the resulting products much more than others.

Harm to milk

The quality of milk deteriorates if you feed a goat:

Milk acquires the sharpest wormwood smell and taste when animals eat wormwood in the flowering phase, when they contain the most essential oil. It is enough for a goat to eat 100-200 grams of green mass of sea wormwood (white wormwood) so that an unpleasant odor appears in the milk. The same is observed when eating ragweed. Bitterness is also imparted to milk by dried flowers cylindrical - in green form and in hay, chamomile, yarrow (of trees), forget-me-not, etc. Milk has a special flavor when goats eat green mass of radish, rapeseed, rutabaga, field yaruka.

The bark is rich in vitamins, but can give bad taste milk

Forage plants contain various active substances that have a hormonal effect that disrupts the normal course of the sexual cycle. Their type and content depends on the type of plants. In total, there are four groups of active substances that affect the sexual function of goats:

1. phytoestrogens;
2. antiestrogen;
3. antigonadotropins;
4. antithyroid substances.

The content of phytoestrogens in plants increases in spring and early summer, it is believed that they initiate the growth of green mass and flowering. When a goat enters the body, there is a violation of the sexual cycle, the secretion of milk increases. Abortions, infertility, endometritis and uterine prolapse are also noted. An increased content of phytoestrogens was found in green corn, alfalfa and clover, so their use in feed should be normalized. Drying plants (harvesting hay) leads to a strong decrease in the concentration of estrogens, and ensiling increases their content by 5 times, so it is better to dry dangerous feeds.

negatively affect the functioning of the ovaries and thyroid gland hormones (thyrostatic action) contained in cruciferous. With an abundant level of feeding with cabbage, rapeseed, disturbances in the fetuses are noted (abortions, the birth of unviable kids). Also, diets with a large proportion of cabbage lead to a decrease in the growth rate of young animals, the development of goiter. You can give cabbage to goats in large quantities if you enrich the diet with iodine.

Spruce branches are rich in vitamins - they should be added to goat feed in winter

In addition to poisonous herbs in hayfields and pastures, plants are widespread - weeds of wool, causing great damage to its quality. Of wool heavily soiled various types burdock, it is impossible to make good fabrics, and goat breeders suffer losses. In downy and woolen goat breeding, thorny plants that clog pastures and hayfields cause great harm. Such crops include cocklebur, splayed Velcro, pinworm, feather grass. Fruits and other parts of plants cling to wool, which degrades its quality and reduces productivity.

Plants that cause hair clogs

• Alfalfa small, or Crimean burdock
• Hairy feather grass (tyrsa);
• Roofing fire;
• Cocklebur needle;
• Whorled bristle;
• Cocklebur goiter;
• Velcro blackberry;
• Blackroot officinalis;
• cocklebur california;
• Burdock felt;
• The series is tripartite;
• trailer.

One of the most effective measures prevention of poisoning and clogging of wool with burdock is the destruction of weeds and poisonous plants in pastures, pastures, meadows, and among field crops. In goat-breeding farms, weeds, poisonous herbs must be destroyed around farms, sheds, bases, near settlements and water sources, and on cattle routes.

How much hay a goat needs for the winter is a very topical issue, especially considering the climatic conditions of our country. In some cold regions, the stall period can last up to six months. From this article, you will learn how much hay and other food should be prepared for the winter for one goat.

How much hay do you need

At first glance, stall keeping goats looks quite expensive. Animals eat very well, and a wide variety of food. But remember the popular saying among goat breeders: “As you feed, so you milk.” The productivity of goats will more than cover any costs of their maintenance.

The main food in winter is hay.. Therefore, in order for the animals not to starve in winter time year, the farmer needs to take care of the feed in advance.

On average, each goat needs from 400 to 600 kilograms of hay for the winter. It is necessary to make stocks based on the available livestock. A dairy goat needs about two kilograms of hay per feeding per day.

Given that it is recommended to feed the animals twice a day, we get 4 kilograms of hay per adult. We multiply this figure by the number of days that the goat will spend on your provision and get required amount stern. Just in case, you can add 100-200 kilograms to the resulting figure.

Do not forget that breeding goats consume more feed than females. An adult male needs 5-6 kilograms of hay per day. If there are young animals in your farmstead, you need to take it into account. Goats need about 1.5 kilograms of hay per day.

In addition, novice farmers often ask the question not how much, but what kind of hay should be harvested for the winter. Experienced breeders advise harvesting meadow hay. It contains herbs such as chamomile, clover, alfalfa. All these plants are very fond of artiodactyls. In addition, chamomile has a positive effect on the amount of milk produced.

Other types of feed

It is worth noting that goats will not be able to chew one hay all winter. Their diet needs to be varied. Straw can be used as a rough top dressing, but mostly it goes to bedding in the stalls.

In order for animals to receive the vitamins they need, it is recommended to stock up on tree branches. For any goat, this is a real delicacy.

It is necessary to harvest tree branches in the middle of summer. In order to determine which tree your wards will like more, you need to cut several shoots from different trees and let the animals taste them. If they eat, then you can prepare supplies for the winter.

This is done as follows: thin shoots with a diameter of about 10 millimeters are cut from the trees, tied into small brooms and hung in a dry place.

You can also prepare tree leaves. To do this, the foliage is collected, and laid out in an even layer to dry. It is worth noting that during drying, the leaves must be periodically stirred so that they do not get wet. After that, they are collected in bags and set aside until the onset of winter.

By stocking up in this way with various feeds, a goat can be provided with a combined diet for the winter. Hay can be alternated with leaves and tree branches. After all, they all belong to the category of roughage.

It is useful to feed goats and cereals. It is noted that goats willingly consume oats. How much grain to give, each farmer decides for himself.

Remember that grain should not be abused during the stall period, animals move little and, accordingly, begin to quickly gain weight. This negatively affects their productivity.

For the winter, you can stock up on green fodder. These are vegetables and root crops. How much to give succulent feed, again, everyone decides on their own. Vegetables can be given both raw and boiled.

In the presence of even a small garden and personal plot, harvesting fodder for the winter is not a big deal. But by taking care of your wards, you can all year round receive tasty and healthy milk.

The goat is a ruminant animal that requires roughage for normal digestion. In the summer, on a pasture, she eats green grass covering your nutritional needs.

For the winter, for her full-fledged diet, it is necessary to harvest hay.

Diversify the diet of the animal should be dried branches of trees and shrubs, juicy vegetables and fruits, cereals, silage. The winter stall period lasts 6-7 months, depending on the climatic zone and weather conditions.

The calculation of how much hay a goat needs for the winter is made taking into account the following factors:

In the winter-spring period, small kids are born, which need to be taught to roughage from 2-3 weeks of age. Therefore, if the volume of hay for a pregnant female is calculated, the necessary weight should be added for the kids, which can be up to 5 in a litter.

Feed requirement of an adult animal in winter

An adult animal needs 5-8 kg of green fodder daily in summer, and in winter the weight of roughage in general is 1-2.5 kg per day.

Goats prefer meadow, steppe or forest hay, dried young weeds from the garden, dry maple, mountain ash, oak, birch leaves, harvested brooms (branches with young leaves), corn leaves, potato tops, beets, squash and pumpkin lashes. You can feed the spring straw of oats, barley. The chaff is well eaten in a steamed form. As vitamin supplement you can give chopped young twigs of coniferous trees.

An adult dairy goat with a milk yield of 2 liters of milk per day needs 400-550 kg of hay for the winter. If it is possible to prepare dry leaves (150-200 kg), branches in brooms (about 200 kg), waste from the garden and straw in the same volume, then the amount of hay can be reduced to 250 kg.

It should be borne in mind that, in terms of nutritional value, additional roughage is almost 2 times inferior to hay.

Young animals from 6 months to a year require 300-350 kg of dry food in the range for the winter.

In addition to dried grass and branches, the diet of goats includes juicy root crops (fodder and sugar beets), vegetables (pumpkin, cabbage, boiled and raw potatoes, carrots, fruits), concentrated feed (cereals in general or chopped form). It is better to give raw potatoes to young animals during the period of intensive growth, and boiled after lambing.

Daily diet of goats in winter

The mating of goats is usually carried out in the autumn, since the pregnancy lasts 5 months and the birth of kids is planned for the spring. The diet in the first and second half of pregnancy is slightly different:

It is recommended to feed the goats three times a day, trying to keep the same time interval between feedings. First give the animals swill ( warm water with the remains of human food, concentrates), then juicy vegetables, last of all - hay and other roughage.

On frosty days, you should increase the amount of concentrated feed so that additional energy helps to survive the cold time. If the goat produces more than 2 liters of milk per day, 0.5 kg of grain feed should be added for every additional liter of milk.

When growing goats of the downy and woolen direction, sufficient attention should be paid to feeding the sucrose queens: in November-December, after molting, the downy cover is formed in goats. Therefore, during this period, it is advisable to feed the animals with high-quality hay:

Feeding rules

In order for the goat to feel good and be productive, the following rules should be observed when feeding:

The best hay for dairy goats and young animals is from alfalfa. It is rich in calcium and protein.

Breeding goats and pregnant goats are suitable for feeding timothy and bonfire. Straw is better eaten barley and millet.

Wheat, in turn, is poorly digested by the stomach of the animal, and many goats do not like rye. Brooms are harvested from young branches of poplar, maple, acacia, willow, mountain ash. But separately the leaves of these trees are eaten more readily. A good vitamin top dressing is the foliage of fruit trees and shrubs. Each farmer chooses how to feed his goats in winter, but the picky nature of these animals allows them to diversify their diet with not so expensive feed.