Rice is one of the fundamental staples of world food.
It is eaten extensively throughout the world and served as the culinary basis for the culture of many diverse peoples.
Rice is a great and healthy addition to any of our meals, but can we share it with our goats?
While rice isn’t toxic or dangerous to goats, there are just far better things that they can eat as a snack.
The likelihood is you don’t have a rice plant for them to eat, so it would be feeding them raw or cooked rice.
In any case, let’s look into this.
Is rice good for goats?
Yes, rice is good for goats in some ways.
It depends, though, on how it’s prepared.
The best way they could eat rice would be by foraging on rice plants, as many populations of feral Asian goats sometimes do.
This would be a good source of fiber, and they would enjoy eating it in this way.
However, for packaged and processed rice, there’s far less benefit to speak of.
Firstly, raw rice bought at a supermarket is just incredibly bland.
They might not even show any interest in it whatsoever.
It’s tough and flavorless, and thus they won’t even really appreciate it as a treat.
Cooked rice might be a bit more palatable.
They might be more inclined to eat it.
It’s still of limited value in terms of pure nutrition, though, so there’s not much benefit to having cooked it for them.
If anything, raw rice is more nutritionally beneficial but less palatable.
As I’ll get into, brown rice might be a lot better, because it contains the whole bran—the fiber-rich part of the plant.
But white rice is really not that beneficial.
There are plenty of other treats you can give them, that they will enjoy more, and get more nutrition out of.
Let’s look at why it could be outright bad for them.
Is rice bad for goats?
It’s not dangerous, or toxic, and poses no specific health risks.
That said, there are still some important points to keep in mind.
Firstly, rice is high in carbohydrates.
While your goats will benefit from carbs in their diet and even need it, they could easily get too much by eating too much rice.
If you are going to feed rice to your goats, then moderation is key.
Once or twice a week, at most, in small quantities.
Swap it out for other treats and snacks during the rest of the week.
This will keep them happy and prevent them from getting bored, while ensuring the greatest range of nutritional benefits.
There is a common myth that if you feed uncooked rice to your goats, it will swell in their rumen and cause fatal injuries.
This is not true, so there’s nothing to worry about there.
Your goat will not dramatically explode from eating raw rice.
But, again, it won’t get much benefit out of it, either.
We’ve touched on how to prepare rice for goats, but let’s look in more detail.
Can goats eat cooked rice?
Yes, goats can eat cooked rice if they are to eat rice at all.
It’s safe for them, and like I said, compared with raw rice, may well be more palatable.
This is often different for different goats, and some may prefer it raw.
Either way, while they can eat cooked rice, again, there’s just very little nutritional benefit to speak of.
Cooked rice is mostly just carbs and absorbed water.
Goats prefer a diet of fresh plant matter, like hay, and/or forage, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
But they can eat it—it’s not unsafe.
Can goats eat raw rice?
Yes, goats can eat raw rice.
Again, despite persistent myths that rice can cause a goat’s stomach to explode from the inside out, raw rice is perfectly safe for them to eat.
There may be more nutrition, for a goat, in raw rice than in cooked rice.
Their digestive system is equipped to handle this sort of thing, and they are obviously bound only to raw food in the wild.
Can goats eat brown rice?
Yes, they can, and this is certainly your best option for feeding your goats rice.
As I mentioned, brown rice contains everything of benefit—the whole fiber.
Brown rice is healthier and more nutritional than white rice, so your goats are likely to prefer it in the first place.
Again, though, there are plenty of things better than brown rice to feed your goats.
It’s just that brown rice is a bit better than white rice.
They would probably prefer fruits or vegetables, though.
Rice is just more trouble than it’s worth, in my view.
There may be some slight advantages to feeding them rice, but it’s nothing that you couldn’t get elsewhere in the diet.
As I said, if you somehow have a rice plant available for them to forage on, this is probably the best way they can eat rice.
Other than that, there just isn’t enough value in giving them rice to justify it.
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