How to Increase Goat Weight?

How to Increase Goat Weight?

Goats are farm animals hence kept mostly by farmers. There are different types of goats who provide milk, fiber, and meat, out of which meat production is the main reason why goats are bred. These goats need to have a good amount of meat on them in order to get their owners a good price in the market. Several questions that often come to mind are why do people raise goats? How to raise goats? How to increase goat weight?

Raising a goat is an exciting and rewarding experience. But it is also very challenging. In order to achieve maximum potential profit, goats need to be fed a high-quality feed with an optimum balance of different kinds of nutrients. Raising a meat goat is entirely different from raising cattle or sheep for meat. It is an exhausting process that takes patience, time, energy, and dedication.

Goats have distinctive physiology as they do not fatten up like sheep or cattle. They gain weight at a smaller rate, ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 lb/day. It is not easy to fatten up a goat because it is very energetic in nature and burns a lot of calories by running around.

Meat production profitably can only be accomplished by the use of high-quality forage and strategic use of concentrate feeds. So, detecting the right balance of nutrition for the goat, to keep gaining weight can be challenging, even for an expert farmer. However many people believe that goats do well with just mere leaves and grass. Raising goats for meat production with such a belief will not lead to a successful meat goat production.

Feeding Requirements

Most of the time farmers are concerned with this question, how to increase goat weight? But goats are smart in feeding naturally. When cattle eat small trees or shrubs they eat them completely with stems. But goats do not eat the stems and have the ability to detoxify tannins. They get the nutrients from the high level of proteins and cell solubles found in the leaves of these plants.

Because of the smaller digestive tract than the cattle, a goat must consume a higher-quality diet to maintain its energy. Keeping in mind the body weight, goats need twice the amount of feed as compared to cattle.

Goats perform well even if the forage and stocking rate is low because the grazing/browsing behavior of goats allows them to select only the highest quality of forage. Therefore they are able to perform well in most situations, even when their nutrient requirements exceed most of the domesticated species.

How to Increase Goat Weight with Proper Nutrients Requirement?

Meat goats require different amounts of nutrients for body growth, pregnancy, reproduction, and production of products such as meat, milk, and hair. The important group of nutrients that are essential for goats are energy, water, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Groups must be made according to the nutritional needs of the goats. This means goats that are in the last months of their pregnancy, high lactating does, weaning goats and yearlings have high nutritional needs. They should be fed differently from bucks, dry does, etc. which have lower nutritional needs.

Animals with the highest nutritional needs must have the access to lush, leafy forage when the pasture is available. And during the winters they should be given the highest quality of hay available. Whether grazed or barn-fed in both conditions, goats should get the best feed to fully fill their nutritional requirements.

• Water

  The cheapest feed ingredient is water. The general performance, growth, and production will be affected if the water is not available in sufficient amount. Water requirement is different for goats at different stages, being highest for the early lactating does, also during the summertime when weather is warm and forage is dry.

  In some cases, water needs are also covered when goats eat lush and leafy forages or grazing them when soaked in heavy dew or rainwater. The main thing is you should keep water available at all times as it is hard to predict the water needs. If you live in an area where water is scarce, you need to think as to how to increase goat weight?

• Energy

  Every living organism needs energy which is one can take from fats and carbohydrates. Tree leaves and lush leafy forage contains adequate energy to cover every farm goat. Corn gluten feed, soybean meal, soybean hulls, wheat middling, whole cottonseed are some grains that are high in energy.

The goats ferment starches, sugars, fats, and fibrous carbohydrates with the help of bacteria present in their rumen and convert them into volatile fatty acids. No matter how important fat is for using or generating energy, but the amount of fat is not supposed to be increased than the recommended amount. Excessive fat depresses ruminal fermentation.

• Protein

  The most expensive component of a goat’s diet is protein. Leafy forage and tree leaves provide energy grains provide protein. Give high protein grains such as whole cottonseed, corn gluten feed, soybean meal, and wheat middling. Protein is essential as it is a source of nitrogen for ruminal bacteria and promotes protein synthesis in an animal’s body by supplying amino acids.

Insufficient levels of proteins can negatively affect reproduction, disease resistance, milk production, growth rate etc. The reason is the lack of amino acid absorption in the intestines.

• Minerals

  For optimum production and basic body function, different minerals are important for goats. The most important minerals that must be a part of a goat’s meat are salt, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. The minerals which must have the lowest level are copper, zinc, and selenium. Calcium phosphorous ratio in goat’s diet is very important and should be 2:1 to 3:1. Magnesium must be 5% to 10 % in the diet of goats.

• Vitamins

  Vitamins needed by the body are very small in quantity. The most common vitamin deficiency in goats is that of vitamin A and D. Rumen of the goat has vitamin B and K which is not dietetically compulsory. Body tissues synthesize vitamin C to meet the body’s needs.

Conclusion

For some farmers, the goat is the way to earn bread for their families. People keep goats for their milk, meat, and fiber to sell. If the quality of fiber is not good or the meat of the goat is not up to the level, the earning of the farmers suffers badly so it is very important to know the answers to such questions, such as how to increase goat weight?

We shared all the basic information you need to have regarding the feeding and diet of the goats. So that if you already have a goat or you are planning to get one, you should not have any problem finding answers to such questions.

Our goal is, not to let any animal ignored or left behind, so we try our best to provide all the related information you could possibly need related to your animals. Remember Animals!