Sheep and Goat Feeding - PVNRTVU SHIKSHANA

FEEDING

Goat generally produces more milk than dairy cow for the same amount of nutrients. They use less feed for its maintenance than cow and uses more fodder for digestion and metabolism than a cow.

FEEDING GUIDE FOR GOATS

Age and stage of production	Feed ingredients	Daily amount to be fed
Birth to 3 days	Colostrums, whole milk or milk replacer	Ad-libitum
3days to 3 weeks	Water, salt	450 c.c.
		Ad-libitum
3 weeks to 4 months	Whole milk	450 c.c upto 8 weeks
(start minimizing milk and completely stop it when kids attain 4 months)	Creep feed	450 g daily
	lucerne hay	Ad-libitum
	Water, salt	Ad-libitum
4 months to freshening	Conc. Mixture	15-16% C.P. @ 450 g
Dry pregnant	Conc. Mixture	15% C.P. @ 400 – 500g
	Lucerne hay	Ad-libitum
	Water, salt	Ad-libitum
Milking doe	Con. Mixture	@ 350 g for each liter of milk
	Trace mineralized salt,	1%
	molasses	5-7% of conc. Mixture
Buck	Only pasture	Non-breeding season
Buck	Conc. mixture	@ 400 g daily at breeding season

Source: Text book of Animal Husbandry by GC Banerjee

FEEDING KIDS, GROWERS AND ADULT STOCK

Kids must receive colostrums from doe within one hour after birth and should continue for 3 days.
These reserves would be adequate to meet the energy demand in drying the birth coat in a warm environment, but in winter the heat loss could approach 150 kcal/hour in kids weighing 3 kg body weight.
Colostrums is rich in all essential nutrients, it provides antibodies for protection of many diseases and got laxative properties, cleans from its intestine the accumulated faecal matter known as meconium, which is often of a dry, putty like nature
After feeding colostrums for 2-3 days, change to whole milk or milk replacer, if they are not nursing. Milk replacer is use to save goat milk for human consumption and also to get a faster gain in kids.
Feed replacer may be continued till kids are 4 months old. Number of feeding should be thrice daily for one week after birth followed by twice daily.

FEEDING SCHEDULE FOR KIDS (kurar and Mudgel, 1978)

Body weight (kg)	Milk (ml/day)		Green fodder (kg/day)	Concentrate (g/day)
	Morning	Evening
2.5	200	200
3	250	250
3.5	300	300
4	300	300
5	300	300	Ad-lib	50
6	350	350	Ad-lib	100
7	350	350	Ad-lib	150
8	300	300	Ad-lib	200
9	250	250	Ad-lib	250
10	100	150	Ad-lib	350
15	100	100	Ad-lib	350
20			1.5	350
25			2	350
30			2.5	350

Source: Text book of Animal Husbandry by GC Banerjee

COMPOSITION OF KID STARTER

Gram	20
Maize	22
Groundnut cake	35
Min. mixture	2.5
Wheat bran	20
Common salt	0.5
Total	100

Provide good legume hay (or fresh green grass) and calf starter along with fresh water at three to four weeks of age.
Equal parts of cracked maize, crushed oats, wheat bran and 10% linseed meal may be fed as the concentrate mixture.
Rumen activity will develop quicker and kids will start chewing their cud by the time they are 3 to 4 weeks of age.
Milk replacer may be fed until kids are four months old. During this time, feed roughages and grains.
From four months to breeding, kids may be fed roughages that will provide enough nutrients for normal growth.
Do not allow growing dairy goats to become too fat.
Always provide clean, fresh water and minerals to kids as they grow. Commercial mineral mixture may be used.

FEEDING SCHEDULE FOR GROWING AND ADULT STOCK (FEED PER DAY) FOLLOWED AT NDRI KARNAL

Body weight (kg)	Milk(g)		Concentrate mixture (g) of kid starter (g)	Green fodder (kg)	Others
Body weight (kg)	Morning	Evening	Concentrate mixture (g) of kid starter (g)	Green fodder (kg)	Others
2.5	200	200			Sulmet 5ml from 5^th day upto 3 days. Benminth 1/2 tab. 10^th day. Piperazine 5 g in 2 days at 1 month age. Benmith 1 tab at month age. Phenovis 5g in 2 days at 2 months age. Benmith 1 tab at 3 months age. Following deworming at the onset and at the end of monsoon season every year or during flock worm infestation period.
3	250	250
3.5	300	300
4	300	300
5	300	300	50	Ad-lib
6	350	350	100	Ad-lib
7	350	350	350	Ad-lib
8	300	300	200	Ad-lib
9	250	250	250	Ad-lib
10	150	150	350	Ad-lib
15	100	100	350	Ad-lib
20			350	1.5
25			350	2
30			350	2.5
40			400	4
50			500	5
60			500	5.5
70			500	6

Green Lucerne and Berseem are normally preferred for stall fed goats.

COMPOSITION OF CONCENTRATE MIXTURE

FINISHER RATION

In general goat attains slaughtering age by 10-12 months having variable body weights (20-30 kg) as specific for various breeds.
Since goats are slaughtered mostly for lean meat, the ration should include 30-40% of the dry matter from roughage source and balance amount from concentrate portion having 12-14% protein and 60-65% TDN.

Ingredients	%
Gram	15
Maize	37
Groundnut cake	25
Wheat bran	20
Mineral mixture	2.5
Common salt	0.5

CONCENTRATE MIXTURES FOR DAIRY GOATS

Ingredient	Approximate crude protein content
Ingredient	14% of concentrate mixture	16% of concentrate mixture	18% of concentrate mixture
Ground maize	37	35	32
Crushed oats	37	35	32
Wheat bran	16	14	15
Soybean oil meal (45% CP)	9	15	20
Iodized salt	1	1	1

FEEDING OF PREGNANT GOATS

Liberal feeding of quality leguminous fodder and concentrate having 25% protein should be offered between 400-50 g depending upon doe’s condition.
A free choice lick of mineral mixture will take care of calcium and phosphorous requirement of dam and fetuses.
High quality roughages provide the basic nutrients needed during last 6-8 weeks of gestation.
Allow good grazing if available and make sure that doe get plenty of exercise.
Several days before the doe freshen (kidding) reduce the quantum of concentrate to one-half and add bran to provide more bulk.
After kidding, feed a bran mash for a few days, gradually bringing the doe to the full feed for milk production.

FEEDING OF LACTATING GOAT

Nutrient requirements are higher during lactation. The ration for lactating does should contain high quality roughages like Lucerne, Berseem and other cereal grains.
To supplement more nutrients particularly of high energy, cereal grains at the rate of 350g at each liter of milk must be provided.
The protein per cent may vary from 14-16%, thee feed may be fed in two lots, at the time of morning and evening milking.
Add 1% traced mineralized salt and 1% calcium-phosphorous mineral mixture to concentrate mixture. Molasses (5-7% of conc. mixture) may be used to increase palatability and to reduce dustiness of feed.
Keep clean, fresh supply of water available at all times.
The concentrate should be fed on individual requirement basis of each doe. This can be done most easily by feeding the concentrate at milking times.

NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS FOR LACTATION IN GOAT (PER KG OF MILK)

Fat content of milk per cent	Starch equivalent (SE) (g)	Dig. Crude protein (DCP) (g)	Ca (g)	P (g)
3.5	262	47	0.8	0.7
4.0	280	52	0.9	0.7
4.5	296	59	0.9	0.7
5.0	314	66	1.0	0.7
5.5	331	73	1.1	0.7

Source: Devendra, C. and Burns, M. (1970), Goat production in the topics, Tech. Comm. Comw. Bur. Anim. Breed. Genet., No.19.

FEEDING OF BREEDING BUCKS

During the non-breeding season, the buck does not require additional grain if he is on good pasture.
During breeding season, the same concentrate mixture fed to the does may be fed at the rate of 450-900 g (depending on the body weight) daily.
Provide roughage free choice along with clean fresh water and minerals.
Care must be taken not to allow the buck to get too fat.
Reduce the intake of energy feeds as needed to prevent the fat accumulation.
Make sure the buck gets plenty of exercise.

FEEDING IN SHEEP

NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS OF SHEEP FOR MAINTENANCE

Body weight (kg)	Dry matter intake (kg)	DCP (g)	TDN (g)	ME (M Cal)	Ca (g)	P (g)
20	0.56	25	280	1.03	1.7	1.0
25	0.70	31	350	1.27	2.1	1.6
30	0.83	37	415	1.52	2.4	1.9
35	0.95	42	475	1.72	2.6	2.1
40	1.06	47	530	1.93	2.9	2.3
45	1.17	51	585	2.09	3.2	2.5

For adult non-lactating ewes and ewes of less than 15 weeks of gestation period

Feeding during resting period,
Feeding during gestation period,
Feeding during suckling period.

Feeding during Resting Period

When resting, the requirements of the flock are low. During this period she is kept on a low level of feeding. The flock can be used as scavengers to clear up poor and overgrows pastures, banks stubbles, etc)
If the animals are maintaining their body weight or putting on a little weight, to the extent of about 0.02 to 0.03 kg per day, they can be stated to be on maintenance ration
As the breeding season draws near, the ewes will again be put on better pastures, i.e., for flushing.
Flushing is the practice of increasing the feed intake of the ewe for gaining in weight and also for stimulating ovum production (increasing the number of twins) at the later stage of rest period i.e, usually 3 weeks prior to breeding is followed for increasing 10-20% lambs born)
This is usually done either by allowing the ewes to graze excellent pasture or by feeding about 200-300 g of grain per head daily
Flushing at the beginning and at the end tends to give better results than when ovulation rate is at its peak. )

Feeding during Gestation Period

The gestation period of ewes will range from 144 to 152 days with an average of 148 days.
The first half of the gestation period is less critical from a nutritional standpoint than the last half. At this stage unless the ewes receive a nutritive ration, weak and dead lamb will be the result.
Special feeding care of ewes during the last six weeks of pregnancy will increase the
- number of viable lambs,
- ewes milk yield,
- growth rate of lambs,
- the quality and quantity of wool clip.
The amounts of nutrients prescribed should be increased by 50 per cent to meet the extra requirement of the fast growing foetus.
It is to be noted that at advanced stages of gestation the ewe cannot consume excess bulky roughages as the space in the abdomen was reduced due to the growth of the foetus.
As such, the ewes on such physiological conditions should be provided with extra concentrates.
Normally in addition to grazing, provision of 250 to 300 gms of any concentrate feed having about 25 per cent DCP and 75 per cent of TDN (e.g. gram or mixture of equal parts of crushed cereal grains and bran) is generally fed.
Feeding extra feeds to meet heavy demands of the unborn lambs is known as “Steaming-up”.
A body weight gain of about 100 gms a day for smaller breeds to 150.gms for larger animals is a fair measure of the nutrient’s intake status at this stage of physiological condition.

Feeding during Suckling Period

Just after lambing, the ewes must produce maximum quantities of milk to nurse the new born at least for about 3 months, so the mother ewes must be properly fed.
To avoid udder troubles, feed reduced amount of grain mixture for the first ten days but don’t forget to provide with all the legume hay she consume.
The shepherd should at this stage must be cautious to increase the supplemented feed gradually up to 250 to 500 gms either as gram chuni or a mixture of cereal grains and wheat bran in the proportion of 2:1 along with legume hays from 1-2 kg.
The mother ewes at this stage can consume dry matter up to 4 per cent of their live weight. Where good pastures are not available all care must be made to provide extra protein and minerals particularly of copper and cobalt other than common salt
The supplemental feeding should have 16-18 per cent crude protein.

Feeding Rams

Generally rams are maintained on the same feeding system as ewes.
In case they are over fat they should be thinned by gradual reduction in feed and plenty of exercise.
For normal size rams, during breeding time they will require supplementary feeding for a month before as well as during the whole breeding season.
At this time an average ram may be offered 250 to 500 grams of the grain mixture consisting of crushed gram 2 parts, wheat bran 1 part and salt 1 part daily according to grazing conditions.