We would like to start by saying that we are still fairly new to goats and are learning much as the days go by. What is written below is some of the info we have learned. If you have more to add to this let us know. Hopefully, as time goes by, we will also be adding to this page.
We have heard that goats will not eat off of the ground and we have also heard that they will eat off of the ground. We have experienced both. At this point though, we put our hay into a ground feeder in order to help keep it a little cleaner. It also keeps the goats from kicking it all over the place and wasting it.
We graze our goats most of the time. But, when we do feed our goats hay, we feed them in a BIG double sink. You can feed your goat in some kind of a bucket or whatever works best for you. We used to use a horse feeder and it did not work that well, because the goats would jump in it and make the hay fall out of it.
Here is a link to some interesting feeders. They are made out of PVC pipe: http://www.barnonemeatgoats.com/feeders.html
What to feed your goat
You can feed your goat any kind of hay. If you decide to feed them hay cubes/hay replacer pellets, you still have to feed them a little hay for their digestive tract to work right and so they can digest the pellets better. If you live in an area that you have free access to brush or weeds, you can also feed them a little of that, but you still have to give them a little hay to keep them in good shape.
It is also good to feed a little grain to your goats as it helps to keep them in nice condition. We had a doe that had kids and put a lot into her kids. She got REALLY out of shape and skinny. We started feeding her grain twice a day and it helped to fatten her up some.
Other things to feed your goat
Besides feeding your goat hay, you can feed them grain to keep them in good condition. We buy a sweet grain from a local feed mill. It has rolled oats, corn and molasses in it. We feed this to our milkers in the stand and also give a little bit to our other goats. You can also buy an unsweetened grain mix and feed a little of this to them.
It is also a good idea to free feed baking soda to your goats. We hang ours in a 1 gallon milk jug with a hole cut in the side and then it is hooked on the fence or screwed on the wall of a barn. The goats eat what they want from this bucket. It helps their digestive system to work right.
We have also heard of feeding goats dry beet pulp because it is high in minerals and fiber.
To keep your goats healthy and in good condition, feed them minerals every day. The recipe we feed our goats is:
6 lbs dolomite
1 lb copper
1 lb kelp
1 lb sulpher
We then mix this all together and keep it in a can that is inside our grain container. We give 1 teaspoon per goat a day. It is pretty easy to get the grain, spoon the minerals on top and then feed it to them. Some of the goats will eat it pretty readily and others need to have it kind of "hiding" in the grain.
We also keep a bowl on our kitchen counter that is referred to as the "goat bowl". All of our kitchen scraps go into it. Everything from orange peels to watermelon rinds to pieces of a leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be found in the bowl. Usually once or twice a day it is dumped out to the goats (and dogs and chickens!).