What Do Goats Eat - How To Feed The Goats

In general, goats in the wild - when they can choose their food - feed on a wide variety of plants, herbaceous, shrub, and trees.

They tend to show a preference for some, consuming them more frequently whenever they are available. This is the case of the olive tree, one of the trees they like the most, devouring its leaves and shoots if they can.

It has also been found that they tend to preferentially eat the most abundant plants among those that are to their liking, which helps to conserve plant diversity.

Adult goats
They can eat almost any plant that is not toxic to them, including many that other animals do not take advantage of because they have thorns, are very hard or have an unpleasant taste.

A very illustrative example of goats' ability to find food is that of brambles, those plants with thorns that give blackberries born in mountains, roadsides and highways, ravines and abandoned lands. Goats feed on the leaves, shoots and fruits of brambles to such an extent that they can clear an area covered with this type of vegetation in a short time.

Goats love to go out to explore the territory in search of food, climbing ravines, walls and steep slopes, where other herbivores do not usually reach. They can also climb large trees as long as their branches are low enough to climb.

When goats are raised on intensive farms, they are fed commercial feed (pelletized feed) developed by the feed industries, usually containing plant debris, grains and other additives, depending on whether the farm is production-oriented—milk or goat meat. In addition to the feed, they can also be given hay, cereals, etc.

Pregnant or lactating adult goats
In the wild, they eat what nature gives them, so they will have no choice but to feed on what they find - whether or not they are pregnant or lactating - although, during these periods of high consumption, they show a preference for plants with higher nutritional value.

However, goats live on a farm - especially a modern one - they will receive a more nutrient-dense and more abundant diet until they stop giving milk.

Kids
The young goats, the kids, feed on milk from birth until their body acquires the ability to digest vegetables.

On the farm, once they stop drinking breast milk, they are usually given a special feed to promote rapid growth, but in the wild, they would go on to eat herbs and tender shoots.

In modern farmer tips you will find more information about goats.