Goat Herd Management: How we provide goat minerals

There are lots of different ways to provide goat minerals. The way I have settled upon is one of the more simple ones. Many people will argue other method they use are better and they have seen great improvements in their management styles. If it works for you for your herd, excellent. Here I’m writing about what we do and some of our reasoning.

Before I even had goats I heard of them eating what they need for their environment. It is mentioned in a book called The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker which is about the impact of artificial flavorings in our foods. The premise being that the flavorings fool our body and effect our ability to intuitively eat in the way goats do. My interest in our food system is one of the reasons I got goats in the first place. Fast forward a couple years and rather than just reading about goats I’m managing them.

The premise behind goats eating what they need is why many people use mineral buffets. In a mineral buffet you offer little containers of each type of mineral and the goats consume what they need. For me this is too complicated a management style for my herd.

The main reason that goats consume loose minerals is actually the salt. Not the taste or need for a particular mineral. I think that just providing a good loose mineral is sufficient in many cases. I was unable to refind a source regarding goats primarily seeking salt and not knowing what they need, but I found one for cattle. Many people swear by there mineral buffets, but this is my reasoning as to why I don’t use one.

How I provide minerals for my goats

What I do is very simple, I provide loose minerals from Sweetlix. One variety (Magnum Milk) if they are on milk and eating a lot of alfalfa and another (Meat Maker) if they are not eating a lot of alfalfa. I have two styles of mineral feeders, one for my does since they have a barn and the other for my bucks.

Doe mineral feeder from Syell

Buck mineral feeder from Tarter

Additional minerals

The only other thing I do mineral-wise is if a goat is looking a bit rough I give them a does of Replamin. I will do this every six weeks or so for the few that seem like they need something extra.

My methods for minerals is pretty simple, but it has been working for me the past couple years. Sometimes the simplest is the best, at least for my farm and management.

Koto, a customer of the mineral feeder