CARDITT"TARP EXTENSION BULLETIN No. 12

EDF PROJECT No. 6100 33 94 297 JAMAICA, JUNE 1993

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

OF

FEEDING GOATS

Francis Asiedu, Albert Fearon and Ralston Barnes

Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARD!)

Jamaica

INTRODUCTION

Goats belong to a group of animals called ruminants. Ruminants are animals

that can utilize effectively roughages for maintenance and production.

They have a stomach that consists of four chambers. The most prominent of

the four chambers is called the rumen. In the rumen are micro-organisms

(bacteria and protozoa) that can digest the cell walls of roughages.

PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING

The practices of feeding goats and other animals are the results of the

application of nutritional principles.

Nutritional priciples suggest that feed ingredients should he put together

in order to provide protein, energy, minerals and vitamins for the mainte-

nance, and the production and productivity of the animal. hater should

also be provided.

In the case of ruminants some of these nutrients are initially utilized by

the rumen micro-organisms in order to facilitate the digestion of the

cellulose in the roughage cell walls, or for them to grow and multiply.

The nutritional principles are compiled into what are called feeding

standards. Feeding standards are generally summarized as tables showing

for each species of livestock the daily requirement for different nutrients

by different classes of that species for maintenance, growth and production.

The nutrient requirements for goats as compiled by the National Research

Council of the United States of America arc shown in ANNEX I.

PRACTICAL FEEDING

The traditional approach to practical feeding of livestock is to formulate

rations using feed ingredients of known chennical composition in order to

meet the standards contained in the nutrient requirement tables. This task

can be performed quite readily by feed manufacturers, many agricultural

scientists and some farmers. However, it is not every farmer who can formu-

late balanced rations. Besides unlike poultry and pigs, ruminants in the

tropics are not normally fed rations of complete diets. It is also wise and

perhaps more sustainable in the long term to depend on feed resources obtainable

locally, even though they may not contain all the nutrients to make a balanced

ration, rather than to depend on imported feed resources. A more pragmatic

approach to practical feeding, therefore, is to attempt to satisfy the needs

for the essential components of the feed.

Apart from vitamins and minerals, the essential components of a feed suitable

for goats (and other ruminants) should include the following:

Component Function

Long fibre Efficient rumen function

Fermentable carbohydrates

Fermentable N (protein) Maintenance plus low production

By-pass energy l

By-pass proteinl Moderate to high production

The following are the sources from which the abovementioned essential feed

components may be obtained.

Long fibre:- Forages and roughages

Fermentable carbohydrates:- Forages and roughages, molasses, crop residues, e.g. citrus pulp

Fermentable nitrogen:- Urea, poultry litter, non-protein nitrogens in plant cells

By-pass nutrients are those not (or only partially) degraded by the micro-organisms in the rumen, and pass through more or less in intact form to be digested and absorbed from the small intestine.

4

By-pass energy: - Corn, rice bran, wheat middlings, cassava and other tubers

By-pass protein:- Soyahean meal, copra meal, fish meal, legume forage.

It is therefore necessary for profitable feeding of goats to select feed

Ingredients corresponding to each of the five essential components. Some

of the feed ingredients will be required in greater quantitites than others.

The feeds which form the bulk of the goat diet arc referred to as the basal

feed', those required in relatively small amounts are classified as supplement

feed.

Basal Feed

Forages and roughages are the basal feeds for goats, as well as other

ruminants. They provide the bulk of the feed for all-year-round feeding.

Forages constitute pastures for grazing (e.g. African Star grass, Guinea

grass, Pangola, Brachiaria - all grasses, and Centrosema, Siratro, Glycine,

Blue pea - all legumes) and fodder crops cut and fed fresh or greeen (e.g.

Napier grass, Guinea grass, King grass, Sugar cane - all grasses, and

Leucaena, Gliricidia, Callandra - all legumes). Forages may also be conserved

as hay or silage and used as basal feed or as supplement to green forage

during the dry season.

Hay is dry forage and it is included in a class of feeds defined as dry

forage a'-4 roughages because it is dry bulk feed. Other roughages which are

normally used as basal feed during the dry season include crop residues

(e.g. corn stover, haulms (trash) and hulls of peanut, peas and beans) and

straw.

Supplement _

Feed materials that provide most of the fermentable nitrogen and the by-pass

nutrients, as well as minerals and vitamins may be used as supplements to

the forages and roughages. Usually they are combined into various feeds/

rations (e.g. molasses-urea feed blocks, by-product rations, etc) before

using for supplementation during the dry season or at stragetic points in

the life cycle of the goat. Examples of supplement diets formulated princi-

pally from agro and industrial by-products are given in Table I. Proprietary

concentrate feeds and mineral licks are also available as supplement diets

for goats.

FEEDING MANAGEMENT

Feeding management is the manipulation of the proportions of feed resources,

especially of the supplement feeds, in order to achieve desirable levels

of production.

The successful feeding management of goats is highly dependent on a good

understanding of the principles governing the use to which nutrients are put

in the goat's body during all phases of its life cycle.

The goat's life cycle can be divided broadly into two phases, I. the adult/

mature phase and 2. the young/growing phase.

1. Adult/mature phase

The adult/mature or reproductive phase can be partitioned Farther into

(a) the dry, (b) pre-mating, (c) gestation and (d) nursing/lactation sub-

phases (Figure LI). The demand for nutrients vary for the different phases

and this is highlighted in Figure 1.I.

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Table 1. Examples of formulations of agro and industrial by-products supplementary feeds

RICE BRAN-BASED FORMULATION

Ingredients Composition (% as fed)

Poultry Litter 25.5 25.5 22.0 30.0

Soyabean Meal 3.0 3.0 -

Rice Bran 59.5 69.0 62.0 67.0

Leaf Meal 10.0 13.0 -

Urea 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Sulphate of Ammonia 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.5

Salt 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Mineral Mix 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

WHEAT mInnl.1NGS-RASF.n FORMULATION

Ingredients Composition (% as fed)

Poultry Litter 24.6 30.1 20.0 30.0

Soyabean Meal 3.0 2.5

Wheat Middlings 60.0 65.0 64.5 67.5

Leaf Meal 10.0 13.0

Urea 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5

Sulphate of Ammonia 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Salt 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

Mineral Mix 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

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2. Young/growing phase

The young/growing phase can also be sub-divided into (a) nursing, (b) weaver

and (c) yearling sub-phases (Figure 2). The demand for nutrients during

these sub-phases is consistently for growth, and some target weights and

growth rates (for Nubian x Native goats) are show in Figure 2.

The elements of appropriate feeding management for meat goats may, thus he

summarized as follows. For the does sufficient nutrients should he provided

for them to maintain the body weight when they arc in the dry state.

Additional nutrients should be provided prior to mating, during the last

trimester of pregnancy and during the first month of lactation. Kids should

be provided with additional nutrients at the latest from the second month of

nursing. The supplementary nutrients should he continued until the chrono-

logical maturity age.

The foregoing account of feeding management is typically applicable when

goats are managed and fed individually. However, on many farms goats are

normally managed in groups in which the members may show variations from the

expected. Moreover, in order to exploit the fecundity of goats in the tropics

a kidding interval of eight months is advocated. The result is that segments

of the adult/mature sub-phases particularly may overlap. Hence it is nece-

ssary in practice to consolidate the time sacle, especially for the mating

and kidding sub-phases and define median dates for them.

This system which is recommended by CARD1 is illustrated in Tables 2 for adult/

mature does fed indoors or grazed on improved pastures. The usual trends in

feeding management for young/growing goats are also illustrated in Table 3.

It is assumed that milk feeding is liberal and post-weaning basal feeding,

as percentage of the body weight, is of the same order as for the adult goat.

Tab!e

Date

2. Supplementary feed allowance for does during the .adult/• phase of the goat's life cycle

Week Activity Supplementary feed

(kg/hd)

1993

Mar I 1 Median kidding 0.75-1.00 Mar 29 5 Est. peak lactation 0.50-0.75 Apr 26 9 Decline in milk production 0.30 May 10 11 ,, ,, i• to 0.00 May 24 13 Wean and start mating 0.75-1.00 June 14 16 Median mating 0.30 July 5 19 End mating 0.00 Aug 23 26 Mid pregnancy 0.30 Oct 4 32 Steaming up 0.75-1.00 Nov 1 36 Median kidding 1.00 Nov 29 40 Ditto week 5 0.50-0.7S Dec 27 44 01 rt 9 0.30

1994

Jan 10 46 u " 11 0.00 Jan 24 48 . " 13 0.75-1.00 Feb 14 51 If " 16 0.30 Mar 7 54 fl, " 19 0.00 Apr 25 61 " 26 0.30 June 6 67 " 32 0.75-1.00 July 4 71 Median kidding 1.00 Aug 1 75 Ditto week 5 0.50-0.75 Aug 29 79 ” “ 9 0.30 Sept 12 81 " 11 0.00 Sept 26 83 " 13 0.75-1.00 Oct 17 86 " 16 0.30 Nov 7 89 II 19 0.00 Dec 26 - 96 " 26 0.30

1995

Feb 6 102 " " 32 0.75-1.00 Mar 4 106 Median kidding 1.00

9

(JA) IA011%3/111

II

Table 3. Supplementary feed allowance for kids during the young/growing phase of the goat's life cycle

Date

Week

Activity Supplementary feed

Creep (% b.wt)

By-products ration (kg/hd)

1993

I 8-22 2-4

Kids born Provision of creep feed Nibbling

Mar Mar Mar

to 29

May 23 5-12 Provision of creep feed 0.5-1.0 May 24 13 Wean 0.20 Sept 13 29 Sexual maturity 0.50 Oct 25 35 Median mating 0.30 Nov IS 38 End of mating 0.30

199 4

Feb 14 SI Steaming up 0.75 Mar 14 SS Median kidding 1.00 Apr 11 59 Est. peak lactation 0.50 May 9 63 Decline in milk production 0.30 May 23 65 0.20 June 6 67 Wean and start mating 0.75 June 27 70 Median mating 0.30 June 18 73 End mating 0.30 Oct 17 86 Ditto week SI 0.7S Nov 14 90 SS 1.00 Dec 12 94 " 59 0.50

1995

Jan 0 98 Ditto week 63 0.30 Jan 23 100 " 65 0.20 Feb 6 102 " 67 0.75 Feb 27 105 70 0.30

Thereafter adult feeding regime becomes operative

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In these illustrations the emphasis is on the additional nutrients supplied

by the supplement diet, in this case the CARDI BP Ration, The CARD! BP

Ration is formulated to provide, in the dry matter, 19% and metabolizable

energy of at least 10.7 MJ/kg, and it is fed in different amounts to all

classes of goats except the pre-weaned kids. For the pre-weaned kids CARDI

creep feed is used instead. Molasses-urea blocks are offered free choice,

The types and amounts of basal feeds are indicated in Table 4.

Table 4. Basal feed allowance for goats raised indoors throughout the year, and during the dry season for those grazed on pasture

(% body weight)

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Feed type Indoors Grazing

Green forage 10-15 5

Silage 7.5-10 3

Dry roughage S 2

Body Feed Energy

Weight TON DE (kg) (g) (Meal)

Crude Protein

ME NE TP DP (Mcal) (Meal) (g) (g)

VitA• min D Total IV (kg)

1 kg •• 2.4 Meal ME

of Total % of

kg BW (kg) kg BW

VIta• mmr, A

Ca P

(1000

(I) (c)

IU)

1 kg • 2 0 Moil ME

1 4

ANNEX f l

TABLE OF NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS OF GOATS

The nutrient requirements presented in Table 1 can be used to formulate diets for the different classes and cate-gories of goats by proper use of available feedstuff,. The table lists nutrient requirements for maintenance at dif-ferent levels of muscular activity and additional require. ':rents for growth, pregnancy, lactation, and mohair pro-duction. The daily energy requirements for maintenance are 101.38 kcal haAvy" (1 kg row 4.409 Mcal oc (Garrott ei al., 1959) or 78 or .• 62 ex .• 3.5 ws, protein requirements are related to energy needs as follows: 22 g DP or 32 g 77 per Meal or]. The energy requirement for

growth is 7.25 kcal meg of gain. Coat kids at very young ages may not be able to consume the suggested required quantities of DM. Similar situations can exist with high-producing dairy goats, but intakes of more than 5 percent of body weight have been reported ( Haenlein, 1978). The energy requ rements per kg ICM at 4 percent are 1246.12 kcal ha; an a 0.5 percent fat change in 4 percent ►cx4 i..• 16.28 kcal E. Additional requirements for mohair pro-duction are also presented. Details on Table 1 are dis- cussed in Chapter 2.

TABLE 1 Daily Nutrient Requirements of Coats•

Dry Matter per Animal

Maintenance only (Includes stable feeding coedit-ions, minimal activity, and early pregnancy) 10 159 0.70 0.57 0.32 22 15 I 0 7 0 1 84 0 28 28 0.24 2.4

287 - 0.96 0.54 38 26 1 0.7 0 7 144 0 48 24 0.40 2.0 30 362 1.59 1.30 0.73 51 35 2 1.4 0 9 195 0.65 22 0.54 1.8

40 448 1.96 1 61 0.91 63 43 2 1.4 1.2 243 081 20 0.67 1.7 50 530 2.34 1.91 1.06 75 51 3 2.1 1.4 285 0.95 19 0.79 1.6 00 606 2.68 2.19 1.23 86 59 3 2.1 16 327 109 18 0.91 1.5

70 682 3.01 2.45 1.38 96 66 4 2.8 18 369 1.23 I.8 1.02 1.5 80 754 3.32 g .71 1.53 106 73 4, 2.8 20 408 1.36 1.7 1.13 1.4 90 824 3.63 2.96 1.67 116 80 4 2.8 22 444 1 48 16 1.23 1.4

100 891 3.93 3.21 1.81 126 86 5 3 5 2 4 480 1 60 16 1.34 1.3

/ Maintenance plus low activity (v.25% Increment, intensive management, tropical range and early pregnanc y l

10 199 0.87 0.71 0.40 27 19 1 07 05 1001 036 1 6 0.30 3.0 20 334 1.47 1.20 0.68 48 32 2 14 0 0 1140 0F) 111 0.50 2.5 30 452 1.99 1.62 0.92 62 4.') 2 1.4 12 243 (( MI 27 0.67 2.2

40 560 2.47 2.02 1.14 77 54 3 2.1 1 5 303 1.01 2 5 0.84 9.1

1 Adapted from: Nutrient Requirements of Goats, NRC, 1981

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5

Nutrient Requirements of Got

ANNEX I (continued)

Dry Matter per Animal

Crude Vita- 1 kg ■ 2.0 I kg - 24

body 114•4:1 Energy .,, r Protein min A Vita- Mcal ME Meal ME

Weight TDN DE ME NE TP DP Ca P (1000 min D Toni % of Total % of (kg) (g) (meal) (Mall) (Mcal) (g) (g) (g) (g) IU) IU (kg) kg BW (kg) kg SW

30 662 2.92 2.38 1.34 9: 63 i 2.8 1.8 357 1.19 2.4 0.99 2.0 60 760 3.33 2.73 1.54 105 73 4 2.8 2.0 408 1.36 2.3 1,14 1.9

70 852 3.76 3.07 173 118 82 5 3.5 II 3 462 1.54 2.2 1.28 1.8 813 942 4 16 3.39 1.91 130 90 5 3 5 -- ' 510 1 70 2 I 1.41 1.8 90 1030 4.34 3.70 2.09 142 99 6 4.2 2.8 555 1.85 2 1 1.54 1.7

100 1114 4.91 4.01 2.28 153 107 6 4.2 3.0 500 2.00 2.0 1.67 1.7

Maintenance plus medium activity 1 ■ 50% increment, semiarid rangeland, slightly hilly pastures, and early pregnancy) 10 239 1.05 0.88 0.48 33 23 1 0.7 0.8 129 0.43 4.3 0.36 3.6 20 400 1.77 1.44 0 81 53 38 2 1.4 1.1 218 0.72 3.6 0.60 3.0 30 543 2.38 1.93 1.10 74 52 3 2.1 1.5 294 098 3.3 0.81 2.7

40 672 2.97 2.42 1.38 93 84 4 2.8 1.8 363 1.21 3.0 1.01 2.8 50 795 1 51 2.86 1 82 110 76 4 2 8 2 1 429 1 43 2.9 1.19 2.4 60 912 4.02 3.28 184 128 87 3 3 5 2 5 492 1 64 2 7 1.37 2.3

70 102.3 4.52 3.88 207 141 96 8 4.2 2.8 552 1.84 2.6 1.53 2.2 80 1131 4.98 4.06 2.30 135 108 6 4 2 3.0 609 203 2.5 1.69 2.1 90 1236 5.44 4.44 250 170 118 7 4 9 3.3 688 2.22 2.5 1.83 2.0

100 1336 5.00 442 2.72 184 128 7 4 9 3.6 '23 2.4 2.4 2.01 2.0

Maintenance phi, high activity (.75% increment, arid rangeland, sparse vegetation, mountainous pastures, and early pregnancy) 10 278 1.22 1.00 056 38 28 2 1 4 0.8 150 050 3 0 0.42 4.2 20 487 206 1.88 0.94 84 45 2 1 4 (.3 252 0.84 4.2 0.70 3.5 30 634 2, 78 2.28 128 87 60 3 21 17 342 1 14 3.8 0.95 3.2

40 754 1 48 2.82 1 39 108 73 4 2 8 2 I 423 i 41 3.5 1.18 3.0 50 928 4 10 3.34 189 128 89 5 1 5 2 5 501 1 67 3.3 1.39 2.7 60 1064 4.69 3.83 2 13 146 102 8 4 2 2 9 576 192 3.2 1.60 2.7

70 1194 3.27 4.29 2 42 165 114 6 4 2 3.2 642 2 14 5.0 1.79 2.f 80 1320 5.81 4.74 2.68 182 126 7 4 9 3 8 711 2.37 3 0 1.98 2.5 90 1442 6.33 3.18 292 198 138 8 5 6 3 9 777 2.59 2.9 2.16 2.4

100 1559 8.88 5.82 3 17 215 150 8 3 5 4 2 843 2 81 2.8 2.34 2.3

Additional requirement,' for late pregnancy (for all goat sizes) 397 1.74 1.42 080 82 57 2 1 4 1.1 213 0 71 0.59

Additional requirements for growth-weight gain at 30 g per day (for all goat sites) 100 0.44 0.38 0.20 14 10 I 0.7 0.3 5* 0.18 0.45

Additional requirements for growth-weight gam at 100 g per day (for all goat sizes) 200 0.88 0.72 0.40 28 20 0 7 0.5 108 0.38 0.X

Additional requirement., for groudh--wvighi guIn Of 150 g per day (for all goal sizes) 300 1.32 1.08 0.60 42 30 2 14 0.8 162 0.54 0.4:5

Additional requirements for milk production per kg at different fat oercentages (Including requirements for nursing single, tell or triplet kids at the respective milk production level)

1% Fat)

23 333 1.47 1.20 068 39 42 2 I 4 3.8 760 3.0 337 1 49 I.21 088 64 43 2 1 4 3.8 750 3.3 342 1.31 1.23 0.89 68 48 2 14 3.8 760

4.0 348 1.33 1.25 0.70 72 51 3 21 3.8 760 4.3 351 1.35 1.26 0.71 77 54 3 2 1 3.8 760 5.0 3.56 1.37 1.28 0.72 82 57 3 2 1 .1.8 760