Can Goats Eat Hay?

Can Goats Eat Hay? (Revealed!)

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Absolutely! In most cases, hay will make up a large part of your goat’s diet. Ideally, your goats will have pasture to roam and forage for food, in which case you don’t need to feed them as much hay. If they can’t forage a pasture, hay will need to make up around 75% of their diet.

 

Either way, the question ‘can goats eat hay’ is an absolute yes.

Even if you do have a pasture for them to roam, likelihood is they won’t be able to forage there all year.

During the winter, they will need stocks of hay to keep fed and hay here will make up most of their diet.

So, let’s look at the nuances of the question, how you should get them their hay, whether they need different types of hay—anything you might want to know.

Can Goats Eat Hay?

 

Should goats always have access to hay?

If your goats have a large enough pasture, you will only need to provide hay during the times of the year when they can’t forage.

Either way, they’ll need it at some time of the year.

Consider, also, whether the pasture is large enough to support your herd and that they’re all finding sufficient amounts of food.

If they aren’t, you’ll have to supplement their diet with hay.

Even if your goats are foragers, it’s usually still a good idea to have hay on hand.

Goats are fairly voracious eaters.

If your goats do not have a large pasture, they’ll need to eat around 2-4 pounds of hay per day, depending on breed.

Naturally, larger breeds will eat more and smaller breeds will eat less.

It will need to account for around 75% of their diet, as I said.

Grass hay is typically fine, but alfalfa hay will provide extra protein.

Despite their reputation for eating anything, goats actually won’t eat hay off the floor.

You should provide them with a feeding trough or somewhere to put the hay that it doesn’t touch the ground.

This isn’t just for the goat’s dignity—it will also keep it free of dirt and insects that might harm your goat.

High quality hay or browse is the cornerstone of your goat’s diet.

 

Can goats eat too much hay?

As I’ve mentioned, goats do have a singular reputation for being able to eat virtually anything.

This is not quite the same as saying they will eat too much, but they do have this reputation too.

They will eat anything, and they will eat as much of it as they can find.

In my case, the latter definitely isn’t true. As long as they have all of their dietary requirements met, goats will only eat as much hay as they need to.

They know their own limits as most animals do.

Given the choice, a goat will only eat what it needs.

The key is making sure all its needs are met, though.

Assuming hay is the primary part of your goat’s diet (as opposed to browse), other things you might want to include in its diet are formulated goat grains, plant matter and even fresh fruit and veg in the form of kitchen scraps.

These should be considered treats and should only make up a small part of your goat’s diet, but it will benefit greatly from some quantity of fresh plant matter.

If your goat gets all this in their diet, they will never overeat on hay.

What hay is bad for goats?

One problem to which hay is highly susceptible is mold.

We tend to think of hay as something that will never go bad since it’s so dried out.

This is not the case, though; grain can very easily become moldy if not stored properly.

It’s vitally important that your wheat is kept free of moisture and even really any contact at all with outdoor weather when you’re storing it.

That said, there aren’t any types of hay that are necessarily bad for goats.

Some are much better than others though, and, again, it will be dependent on breed.

Protein content is possibly the number one consideration.

Alfalfa hay and legume hay in general has a very high protein content as compared with grass hay, and most goat breeds just don’t need this much protein.

Larger breeds, like Boer goats, will benefit from alfalfa hay, but smaller pygmy goats don’t need it.

Overall, the specific type of hay is less important than simply the quality of the hay.

Look for a hay that is properly harvested and stored, and that has a quality of good to excellent.

That isn’t to say there isn’t advantages to specific hay types—bermudagrass hay has in recent years become a popular favorite with goat owners.

Just make sure the quality is good and you will have no problem.

 

So, hay is in an indispensable resource in keeping your goats fed, healthy and happy.

Whether they roam a pasture in the summer or not, at some time of the year they’re going to need to rely on hay if you don’t live somewhere without seasons where your pasture remains green all year round.

Hay comes in a few different forms, and which you should feed to your goats will, again, depend on their circumstances.

Either way, goats can definitely eat hay and in most cases can’t do without it.

 

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