1. Forage Management and Goats
Bob Woods
Area Extension Agronomy Specialist
Photo by Dr. Claude Evans

2. What’s required to keep her fed?
Meet “Average” Doe!
150 lbs of grace and beauty!
What’s required to keep her fed?

3. What does she eat?
That depends on what’s available and what tastes best to her!
Average Seasonal Diet Composition of Goats
Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
% Browse 34 33 53
% Grass 49 37 42
% Forbs 17 14 10 5
From: What Range Herbivores Eat- and Why. TAEX Pub. B-6037

4. “Goats have a greater tendency to adapt their dietary habits than other kinds of livestock”
“As long as there is adequate browse there is apparently little competition between goats and cattle”
CRC Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture

5. Goats can graze a multitude of forages (and brush)
Native range
Bermudagrass
Bahia
Fescue
Legumes
cool season
warm season
Small grains
oats
wheat
rye
ryegrass
Sorghum
Forbs

6. How much forage will she eat? (Dry Matter)
If she weighs 150 # she will consume:
On average = 4% of body weight (Texas A&M) 6 lb/day
If she weighs 175 # :
On average = 4% of body weight lb/day
If she gets 1 lb of supplement, she will need to forage for 5 lbs each day.

7. Forage for the year? 6 lbs x 365 = 2,190 lb or 1.1 tons/ Doe BUT
We may only get 50% utilization on continuous grazing, we’ll need 2.2 tons. Or
With rotational grazing we might get 65% utilization, we’d need about 1.7 tons.
On Cattle we see anywhere from 50 to 70% utilization of the forage grown, the above utilization for goats is not reported well in the literature.

8. Average Doe’s hay needs.
When we feed average Doe hay, at best we are going to get 70% utilization.
If the hay is somewhat rotted and fed on the ground, we would expect only 50% utilization.
For 30 days, average Doe would need 257 lb of utilization.
For 150 days (Dec.-April) she would need 1- 1,200 lb round bale to herself.
30 Does would need 30 bales. Assumes Doe gets all her dry matter intake from hay!
Or if only feeding 3 lbs hay/head /day: 30 Does would need about 12 bales for the 150 day feeding period.

10. Fact Sheet 2584
Forage Budgeting

11. Fact Sheet 2584 Forage Budgeting

12. 10 acres
25 Does
No Browse
Bermudagrass
Cool Season Grass
Hay

13. 10 Acres – All Grass 25 mature goats
25 goats X 30 days X 6 lbs./day = 4500 lbs of D.M./Month
Cool Season Grass - November, March, April
3 months X 4500 lbs/.6 harv. Eff. = 22,500 lbs. of D.M. or tons
Hay – 3 months
11.25 Tons
Bermudagrass – May –October
6 months
25 goats X 30 Days x 6 lbs./Day =27,000
27,000/60% Harvest Eff. = 45,000 lbs or
22.5 Tons

14. 25 goats – 10 acres, no browse, all grass
6 acres Bermudagrass – 22.5 tons/6 = 3.75 tons/A
4 acres Cool Season Grass – tons/4 = 2.8 Tons/A
P, K, and Lime as recommended by a soil test

15. Goats for Brush Control
Cattle and Goats
Stocking Rate is Important
Need an estimate
of biomass
Need to determine
structure of biomass
Limited Research!
How much biomass and how much is useable by the goats and the cattle?

16. Thousands of acres in central and eastern Oklahoma are just like this – unmanaged and unproductive
Control – no treatment
1 Doe/ 22 acres

17. Mechanical means may be necessary to lower the browse on some sites.

18. Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn every 3 years
1 Doe/2 acres
Harvest pine-thin hardwood- burn every 3 years
Maximizes wildlife objectives
Or Plenty of browse for Goats?

19. Goats that are overstocked on brush land can kill out one of their preferred forages, browse!

20. An approach for allocating for both cattle and goats

21. NRCS Web Soil Survey
80 Acre Example

22. Vegetative Productivity Estimates

25. x
= 920
= 26,789
= 87,931
= 13,475
= 28,140
= 549
Total 211,319
= 53,515
40% Canopy Closure? x x x x x x
60% grass and Forbs = 126,791 lbs.
40% browse = 84,527 lbs.

26. Harvestable Estimate
Typical harvest efficiency on a NR site is about 30%
How much of the browse is accessible to the goats – (For example 30%)
grass and Forbs = 126,791 lbs x .3 = 38,031 lbs
browse = 84,527 lbs x .3 = 25,358 lbs.

27. Cattle – year round 12 months Or 8 cows or 16 stockers ½ season
Goats – 6 months
180 x 6 = 1080 lbs.
Browse Component
25,358/1080 = 23 does
Or 46 kids
Cattle – year round 12 months
1 AUY = 9360 (1000 lb. cow)
Grass component
38,031/9360 = 4 cows Y.R.
Or 8 cows or 16 stockers ½ season

28. Or 8 cows or 16 stockers ½ season
Browse Component
25,358/1080 = 23 does
Or 46 kids
Grass component
38,031/9360 = 4 cows Y.R.
Or 8 cows or 16 stockers ½ season
All Goats - no cattle
59 Does or 120 kids

29. Your Local Extension Agriculture Educator Can Answer Your Forage Questions!