The “Goat Nutrition” post was dedicated to feed-stuffs that are essential for
proper nutrition of your herd. But there is so much more to keeping your goats healthy. No matter how well you care for your goats you will not be able to protect them from all diseases, parasites, and other problems. At some point in time they will likely be exposed to some issue or problem. By acting proactively you can minimize exposure by preventing problems and
diseases versus trying to treat them after they occur. There are several supplements, vitamins, and treats that you need to be aware of and have on hand to maintain a healthy herd. The following is what we have in our tool chest to keep our goats healthy.

-spend time with your goats on a daily basis
-Probios – oral paste
-Vitamin B oral paste and injectable
-Red Cell
-Selenium Oral paste
-Copper bolus
-Baking Soda
-Nutri-drench
-Goat Treats
-Parasite control

Spend time with your goats on a daily basis so that you can recognize when they are not acting their “usual” selves. By knowing each of your goats’ individual personality you will be able to recognize changes in behavior or symptoms of diseases or other ailments more quickly. The faster you can diagnose and provide treatment the faster and more successful recovery will be.

Probios. Probios bovine gel is a source of beneficial bacteria specifically for ruminants. Probios gel contains a source of live naturally occurring microorganisms that benefits a healthy digestive system. We use Probios particularly during times of stress/distress (for example at birth, when disbudding, traveling, weaning, or when a goat goes off their feed).

Vitamin B. Like Probios, we keep Vitamin B oral gel around all the time. The fortified vitamin B complex oral gel contains thiamine (B1), B12, and Probiotics. We utilize vitamin B oral gel to support a goat’s appetite, digestion, and energy levels. We administer it when we are kidding (to mothers) after vaccinating, after deworming, disbudding, weaning, and when there is diminished feed intake and other stressful events. In cases where a goat is exhibiting more extreme signs of distress or they have gone off their feed, we keep a vitamin B injectable handy (beforeadministering a vitamin B injectable contact your vet).

Red Cell. Red Cell is a yucca flavored vitamin-iron-mineral supplement. Our goats take Red Cell readily, so is a great way to treat goats who may be experiencing anemia and need to build their red blood cell count. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals that may be lacking or are ininsufficient quantities in regular feed or in cases when a goat is not eating sufficiently. One precaution, Red Cell does contain selenium so care must be taken not to over administer on a complete ration basis.

Selenium & Vitamin E. We live in SW Montana where natural levels of selenium are somewhat deficient in the soil for plants to uptake and pass on to goats. Goats need the micronutrient selenium in the amount of .2 ppm (toxic levels are 3ppm). Even though only a small amount is needed, a deficiency can cause bigger problems. When deficient, does have a harder time getting pregnant, are more likely to have birthing problems, will produce less milk, and may result in stillborn or weak kids. In addition to selenium provided by grazing, we provide several sources of supplemental selenium to our goats in the form of a “goat block”, in Red Cell (listed
above), and in a Vitamin E & Selenium oral paste. Please note – there is enough selenium in the oral paste that the manufacturer recommends that it be used as the sole source of selenium on a ration basis.

Copper. Copper deficiency in goats results in poor hair coats, can reduce growth, reduce fertility and impair immune systems. Similar to Selenium, foraging goats may not be getting enough copper due to deficiency in soils. Additionally, the presence of other minerals like molybdenum, sulfur, iron, and calcium carbonate will interfere with copper availability. Soils on our farm have high levels of calcium carbonates so we regularly administer copper in the form of goat copper bolus (for adults and kids). The copper bolus provides a slow release source of copper and therefore only needs to be administered every 8 months to 1 year. We hide the copper in thick slices of banana and the goats love them!

Baking Soda. Baking soda can be a useful supplement to your goats diet. It aids in digestion functions and helps to prevent bloat if overeating or eating the wrong food. Goats seem to “know” when they need it, so we offer it free choice and if they need it, they eat it. If they don’t need it, they don’t eat it. Goats are naturally forb eaters, not grass eaters. They love leaves, trees, your flowers, and other weeds. When those are gone, they will live on your grass pasture, however if you throw them pine tree trimmings, just get out of the way! The issue comes from a goat resorts to eating too much freshly grown grass. The grass can overwhelm the bacteria in the rumen causing fermentation gases to build up. Baking soda will balance the pH levels in their stomach. So offer it free choice (not mixed with other feed).

Nutri-drench. This is another of our go-to products. This supplement contains rapid, rich nutrition containing glucose, minerals, amino acids, and vitamin A, D, and E. It provides an energy burst for adults and weak newborn kids, stimulates appetite and can increase milk production. Plus, our goats love the taste and readily take it orally.

Goat Treats. 1. Goats love anise (black licorice) flavored pelletized nutritional treats (Manna Pro). We use them as a reward – after milking, if they go to their pen, they get a few pellets as a treat. These treats are great training tools. They are also loaded with many minerals and
vitamins beneficial to goats. 2. Apples. They love dried apple pieces and cores. Instead of throwing the cores away, we let them dry and the goats gobble them down. 3. Onion skins. One year, quite by accident while harvesting garden produce, we figured out that our goats love onion skins (the papery outside layer).onion skins (the papery outside layer).
4. Bananas. They seem to prefer banana peels more (cut up into smaller bit size pieces). But they also will eat a 1 inch slice of banana with gusto. That is also helpful to know when administering a copper bolus. If you hide the tiny copper particles in a hollowed out banana slice, the goats will gobble down the banana copper and all without giving it a thought. 5. Garden Greens. We have to keep a fence around our garden so that our free-ranging goats don’t devour our garden greens. They love most garden greens including lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, the tops of beets, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, kohlrabi, pea vines, and sunflower heads. This year we are planting a “goat garden”. When the plants grow big enough we will let them graze it down, allow it to regrow, and graze it again.