How to Feed Millet to Dairy Goats

Goats need a combination of protein and fiber to produce milk.

MIllet is a type of grain that can be healthy for mature adult dairy goats, according to a study published in the "Journal Of Animal Science." Feeding goats millet is easy, as it is a type of hay you can give them to supplement their protein and fiber requirements. Dairy goats need large amounts of high-quality millet hay in order to produce milk.

Instructions

1. Make the switch slowly, if you haven't previously fed your goats millet hay. Any abrupt change in diet can upset a goat's stomach and affect her milk production. Buy millet hay before your old hay runs out, and mix the two together for a few weeks, gradually giving the goats more millet hay.

2. Make the hay easily accessible to the goats. Milk-producing does should have access to all the hay they can eat. Give it to them twice a day, in an area where many goats can congregate. Feeding stands can help keep the hay clean.

3. Keep millet hay fresh by giving the goats only as much as they will eat in a day. This may take some trial and error. But eventually it will keep you from wasting hay when goats soil it or leave it to rot or get wet.

4. Feed your goats millet hay along with a grain-based feed produced specially for milk-producing ruminants. Milking does should eat two to three pounds of grain a day, depending on their body weights.

5. Always have fresh water available near the hay for your goats.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep millet hay in a place with low humidity and some sort of shelter, to keep out rain.

• Pearl millet has more nutrients than foxtail millet, though it is more difficult to cure.

References

• Journal Of Animal Science; Protein and Energy Value of Pearl Millet Grain For Mature Goats; T. H. Terrill, S. Gelaye, E. A. Amoah, S. Miller, B. Kouakou, R. N. Gates and W. W. Hanna; 1998
• University Of Missouri: Feeding And Housing Dairy Goats
• Baby Goat Farm: Feeding Goats
• North Dakota State University: Pearl Millet