What Kind Of Feed Should The Goat Be Given?

The dairy goat gives as much milk as it is given the right food!! There are many feeds the goat likes. Here are some good feeds that can be used.

Sweet potato vines

• This is a very good feed that goats like very much.
• It is a good crop to plant because it gives tubers for the family to eat and the leaves can be fed to the goats.
• It can be planted beside river beds, steep parts of the farm and roadside edges.
• It is useful in feeding kids whose mothers die early in their life.

Napier

• Plant napier along river beds, along soil terraces, road reserves, etc.
• Where a farmer has a big farm, then plant as one crop near the home to save time and work when taking to the goats.
• Good napier needs manure and top dressing with a fertilizer, and it needs weeding.
• Where new fields are being planted, mixed cropping with desmodium improves the quality of the fodder.
• If you plant Napier around your maize, it stops Maize stalk borer!
• Cut Napier often so it is easy for the goats to eat and digest

What Kind Of Feed Should The Goat Be Given?

Fodder trees and legumes

• These have lots of protein and you need only feed a little at a time.
• These are for example: leuceana, calliandra, sesbania and desmodium
• The trees and legumes, should be planted along the fences and terraces. For example, leuceana is good in fences
• Good legumes are potato vines, which do not need a lot of work once they are growing.
• Desmodium, when available, should be inter-cropped with Napier
• Calliandra does better in high altitudes (tea zones) than leuceana.
• Do not forget that many weeds also make good fodder.

Maize

While maize is grown for farmer’s food, there is a lot of fodder which can be used for feeding the goat which will not stop the farmer getting a good maize yield.

• Thinning: all the extra maize seedlings that grow from the same seed hole should be thinned and dried a little before feeding to the goats.
• Remove extra leaves – this should start with the leaves below the cobs as soon as the cob can be seen.
• Cutting the tops – this should start after the grains have hardened.
• Stover – these should have sweeteners (molasses) added or sprinkle common salt after chopping.
• Broken grains – these are very nutritious especially after a heavy harvest but should be fed carefully to avoid grain overload.

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