So, you love animals and although you don’t rear a herd of goat, you rear quite a number and you decided to mix up your animal collection with a few birds and other animals.
Sadly, there’s not enough space for all the animal collection you have so, somehow your goats and birds end up in close proximity. As a result, every time you feed your birds, bird seeds seem to drop into where your goats nests, making them eat it too.
Now, you’re worried that the bird seed might have an adverse effect on them. Well, it’s normal to be worried. Don’t worry and keep reading to discover if feeding birdseed to your goat is good for them.
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Is it OK for goats to eat bird seed?
Generally, there are types of food that you should and shouldn’t feed to your goat, even though they eat it by accident and seem to like it.
One of such feeder type is seeds generally. The reason is because, their digestive system was forged to ferment plants for their nutrition and health.
But when it comes to seeds, it’s not entirely a terrible idea to feed it to your goat. You only have to ensure that you do not feed them too much seeds because it would endanger their lives.
Now, with regards to Bird seeds, you have to be wary of the type of bird seed you intend to feed your goat. If they are sunflower seeds, then it’s okay to feed it to your goat.
However, as earlier stated, you have to feed it to your goat in minute quantity. Otherwise, your goat could die as a result of too much gas release in their stomach from the seed. Whatever you choose to do, don’t feed your goat any type of bird seeds.
Can goats feed on black sunflower seeds ?
Absolutely! Goats can feed on black sunflower seeds and that’s because it’s great for keeping their nutrition levels on a good stage.
For instance, your goat would benefit from quite a few nutrients like fiber and protein from black oil sunflower (BOSS). BOSS also improves buttermilk during lactating.Their milk production would also improve.
It also boosts their energy levels, leaving them with a shiny and healthy coat. However, while BOSS is healthy for your goat, you have to feed it to them in small quantity to prevent digestive problems and the possibility of death.
You have to monitor your goat every time you decide to feed BOSS to them. The reasons is that goats are generally greedy animals. So, when they taste something good, they find it difficult to stop.
Hence, they could finish an entire sack of BOSS if you feed it to them without proper monitoring because while this seed makes them healthy, it can kill them too.
Rather drop an entire sack of BOSS before your goats to feed on, portion it in small quantity in a plastic so that they can feed on.
Is corn good for goats?
Corn is absolutely good for goats. But, as with Black Oil Sunflower seeds, you shouldn’t feed too much corn to your goat. Also, you should introduce corn to your goat gradually, not at once.
More so, you have to caution the amount of corn you feed to your goat to ensure that it is not too much. Preferably, you should only feed corn to your goat occasionally. For example, a pregnant goat would benefit from eating a small quantity of goat.
If your goat is weak, you can feed it corn so that it regains energy. But of course, it should only be for that purpose because too much corn is bad for your goat.
Note that when feeding corn to goats, you have to feed it to them in a certain form and in the appropriate quantity to prevent them from suffering from grain poisoning.
For instance, if you want to feed whole corn to your goat, it’s best to crush it before you feed it to your goat. The reason is that they can’t digest whole corn unless you crush it.
What happens if a goat eats too much corn?
Quite a few things can happen if your goat eats too much corn. For starters, they can suffer from Acidosis. This condition occurs when a goat consumes too much grain food like corn.
When they get struck by this acidosis condition, what happens is that it reduces the rumen’s pH level and it gets acidic down there.
As a result, they start to manifest certain symptoms like abdominal discomfort, obvious loss of appetite as you’ll notice that they won’t eat and when they do, they’d eat far less than usual.
They’d also suffer from Diarrhea. When they start to suffer from these symptoms and you fail to do anything about it, it could eventually become acute and they’d most likely die as a result.
So, to prevent losing your goat, you should strictly adhere to the guidelines on the amount of corn you are allowed to feed your goat. If you’re not sure as regards how much grain you should feed your goat, it’s best that you do not attempt to feed them grain at all.
However, if corn is all you’ve got, reach out to a vet or a professional for proper guidance so that you do not overfeed your goat with corn and prevent ugly circumstances from occurring.
What grain is best for goats?
I’m sure that by now, if you believed that goats eat just about anything, that mentality should have been changed by now.
The reason is that goats don’t eat just anything. There are certain foods that should be off limits for goats.Some of these foods are some type of grains.
While you must have seen other goat owners feed certain grain foods to their goats, it might have made you believe that it is healthy to feed every type of grain to goats. That’s false.
While they can eat any type of grain, you shouldn’t let them eat just about any grain food as it would negatively impact their health and possibly claim their life.
So, what are the type of grain foods that you should feed your goat? For starters, wheat is a pretty great grain food that you can feed by goat. But of course, you have to do so in minute quantity.
You can also feed them barley and oats to create diversity. Now, you shouldn’t feed adult goats more than a cup of grain as it would be dangerous to their existence.
For baby goats, do not feed them more than ½ cup of grain food. Here comes the twist as regards feeding grain foods to goats. If you’ve got a pregnant goat or a goat you’re saving up to milk, feel free to feed them up to 2 cups of grain foods.
The reason is that these category of goats need the extra protein and fat because of the conditions they are in. But you shouldn’t go beyond 2cups of grain.
What are goats favorite food?
Since they are herbivores/ ruminant animals, goats enjoy eating plants and pastures. Of course, you can feed them other types of food like corn, grain, etc.
But the only time they can freely eat those other food diversity is when they are healthy from feeding on pastures and plants. The best kind of pasture for goats include Sudan grass, millet, Sorghum, and Bahia grass are their favorite.
And luckily, these foods options are high in nutrition for your goats. They also improve their digestive process. Another great option is Hay.
It is especially perfect during rainy days or when the weather is cold. The best type of Hays that provides goats with enough protein is the alfalfa hay.
What should you not feed goats?
As earlier stated, goats can’t eat everything. You’d endanger their lives if you feed just about anything to them. There are a host of things that you should not feed to goats regardless of the circumstances.
They include Cestrum, Lily of the Valley, Japanese Pieris, Cherry Tree, Water Hemlock, Garden Iris, Labrunum, Potato Weed, Blue Lupin, Azaleas, Yew, Dumb Cane, Iceland Puppy, Poison Hemlock, Pokeweed, Acorns, Fiddleneck,
Mountain Laurel, Ngaio, Castor Oil Plant, Mayapple, Holly, Ponderosa Pine Tree, Raw Potatoes, Dog Hobble, English Ivy, Foxglove, Goat’s Rue, Datura, Buttercups, Kale, Nightshade, Japanese Yew,
Rhubarb Leaves, Calotropis plant, Avocadoes, Fireweed Plant, St. John’s Wort, Rhododendrons, Red Maple Tree, China Berry Tree, Lilac Flowers, Plum Trees, Burning Bush, MayaMaya,
What happens if you overfeed a goat?
While goats make great pets, you might fall into the trap of overfeeding them. Here’s why you should prevent overfeeding them.
For starters, they would suffer from bloat which would eventually kill them after a couple of hours. They could also get Diarrhea or scours.
With Diarrhea, they could survive. But scours is a dangerous condition that puts their life at risk.
It induces dehydration on your goat, killing them in the process. Whatever you do, just ensure that you feed your goat in the right amounts with the right portion of food.
Reference
- https://animals.mom.com/how-to-feed-goats-whole-sunflower-seeds-3691385.html
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/types-of-bird-seed-a-quick-guide/#sunflower
- https://www.mannapro.com/homestead/what-goats-can/cant-eat-around-your-farm/homestead-including-table-scraps
- https://feedingnature.com/what-do-goats-eat/
