DAILY FEED
I feed orchard grass, which you can get from Wilco, but it’s expensive. Now is a good time to buy what you’ll need for the year from local farmers (FB Marketplace). A bale is going for around $15 each, but will jump up to $25+ during the winter. An adult ND should have a flake a day. Timothy hay is good, too, but it’s not especially common. They’ll waste “local grass”. Hog Farms & Feed has started carrying orchard grass, but I don’t know if he always will. His prices are decent, depending on how much he buys it for. 100# bales are currently $23 and it’s beautiful grass. (prices from spring 2025)
Haystack’s Special Blend Pellets
SUPPLEMENTAL FEED
I give Haystack’s Special Blend pellets to my does to help supplement their diet. It has alfalfa in it, so it isn’t good to give to bucks or whethers because alfalfa can cause urinary problems, especially in whethered goats. You can give timothy pellets instead, so they have variety with the orchard grass. Feeding pellets isn’t necessary as long as they have a good quality grass hay. (any brand of grass pellet is fine)
Haystack’s Special Blend Pellets
TREATS
Goats love treats. Anything for horses or sheep is fine for goats, but they’ll also eat animal cookies, granola / breakfast bars (no chocolate, etc), graham crackers, etc.
SELENIUM
Our area (as well as most of the US) is low in selenium, which goats must have. It’s recommended to give selenium every 4 weeks (I actually give every 3 weeks). It’s easy to give if they’ll take the graham crackers or breakfast bars. You can get selenium from Wilco, Buchanan Feeds, etc. JeffersPet.com tends to have the best prices.
Just squeeze the recommended amount of the selenium paste onto a piece of graham cracker or breakfast bar, and hold it out for the goat. Make sure you pay attention to who has had their selenium cookie.
DEWORMING
Your goats will need to be dewormed periodically. The right way is to send a stool sample for each goat to a lab and have it tested to see what kind of worms they have and the numbers, so you know what meds to treat with. Or just treat them in late winter and again in the fall with Safeguard and/or Ivermectin 1% (it’s an injection, but give it orally).
COPPER
You’ll want to give a copper bolus once a year. I use a dog pill popper to get it in the back of the mouth, then shove a cookie in their mouth and hold their head up so they chew the cookie and swallow the pill. It’s better if you can get the whole pill (not chewed up) down their throat, but I’m usually doing this on my own and goats really don’t like things shoved down their throats, so I take what I can get.
MITES
Two treatments of UltraBOSS between the shoulder blades should take care of mites. You’ll know if they have mites if the hair around the eyes is gone (usually the first sign). You can see in the pict in the link below that there’s dandruff and thin hair on the ears and above the eyes, too.
MINERALS
Goats need goat minerals at least few times a week.
HOOF CARE
You’ll need to trim their hooves periodically. I’ve bought less expensive ones on Amazon and they work ok. Any brand will need to be sharpened. Giving some sort of pellet or goat grain while you’re trimming their feed really helps keep them distracted and not constantly kicking.
HOUSING
Goats hate water, so they’ll need some sort of shed or large dog house if you don’t have a barn. They can take temps down around 10°f, so no need to insulate their house. They just need a place to get out of the rain, mud, and wind, and have shade when it’s hot out.
MEDICAL CARE
If you need a livestock vet, I’ve used https://www.veterinaryservicesoforegon.com/ . He’s mostly mobile and mostly heads north, but he’ll do what he can to meet you at the office in St Paul if you need him. Their customer service is outstanding!
COMMANDS
Goats will learn their names and simple commands (like ‘no’).
MORE INFO
Here are some experts I check in with when I need info:
The Thrifty Homesteader’s website doesn’t want to connect with the link here. She has a lot of really great info, so please check her out.
Maple Creek Farm PNW 