![]() “Treats” should be formulated specifically for goats. Just as dogs shouldn’t eat chocolate, there are foods that are bad for goats. Just as in adult goats, if you switch kids from goat’s milk to formula or cow’s milk, it can upset the stomach and cause scours. Too much, or a sudden addition, of alfalfa hay can have similar results. But, if a goat is suddenly switched from a browner hay to a rich green hay, it will upset the rumen. It is the closest “farm-raised” food that mimics what a goat might find in the wild. However, too much grain will overload the bacteria in the digestive system and result in scours. It will also encourage your goats to come to you, which can be good if they’re somewhere they’re not supposed to be…like the garden (wink, wink). It keeps them still on the milk stand or during shearing. Grain is a great tool for getting goats to cooperate. They just can’t resist the sweet, molasses-covered oats and will become quite clever in figuring out how to get to the grain can. Just as with grass, goats will often eat as much grain as they can get. The quantity will often overload the bacteria’s ability to digest the grass and the goat will get scours. The goat’s system isn’t designed to process such a moisture-rich food. If given the chance, goats will gorge themselves on grass (remember that they have the instinct to fill up when they can) they don’t realize that this pasture will still be available to them tomorrow, so they will eat and eat. Fresh green grass might look like the ideal setting for a hungry goat however, too much grass or very wet grass will often cause scours. It’s important to know what steps to take to treat scours and when it’s time to call the vet.īelow is a list of causes that can bring on scours in goats. Scours can sometimes indicate serious illness and if left untreated can cause dehydration, organ damage or death. Scours: Diarrhea in goatsĪnytime the bacteria balance in a goat’s digestive system becomes out of whack, diarrhea can occur. They should be dark brown in color and separated, meaning not clumped together. Normal Goat Pellets: Goat droppings should consist of hard, solid, oval-shaped pellets. By chewing cud, the goat is breaking down their food into smaller and smaller bits and mixing it with saliva, which begins the digestion process. They might wait a few seconds, then regurgitate the ball (you’ll often see it slide back up the throat) and begin chewing again. They’ll often belch, and if you happen to get close their breath will smell like fermenting hay. When goats chew cud they will chew and chew, usually with a ball of something in one cheek of their mouth or another. With their tummies full of hay, they’ll curl up and chew their cud. What is Cud Chewing?Īfter our goats eat, they often settle in for a nice leisurely lie down. Those are fermentation gases moving into the upper part of the rumen. If your goat’s rumen is working properly, you should be able to hear a wave of gurgling every 45 to 60 seconds. Abomasum – This chamber is most similar to our stomach in that it uses acids to break down food particles into absorbable molecules.Omasum – The first chamber of the goat’s “true” stomach.Rumen – A fermentation chamber in which bacteria break down particles of food and make the nutrition available to the goat.Reticulum – A chamber of the rumen that works with the esophagus during cud chewing.The word “rumen” is often used to describe the entire digestive system of a goat, when in actuality it is one of the four chambers that make up the goat’s “stomach.” Chambers of a Goat’s Digestive System When we take goats out of these natural surroundings and place them in a farmyard, it’s easy for a goat’s digestive system to become unbalanced. It gains minerals from the mineral-dense rock in which scarce vegetation grows, and worms are not as much of an issue because the herd is not confined to a particular grazing area, so the worm cycle doesn’t concentrate. The goat fills up when it can because in its rocky habitat, it might not know when the next meal is coming. Their rumen is designed to digest small amounts of food constantly. Goats are designed by nature to be constantly on the move, searching for bits of food, twigs leaves and plants that they nibble as the herd moves forward. Goats are grazers, but not in the sense of fields and fields of lush grass.
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