Can Goats Eat Silage?

Can Goats Eat Silage? (Answered!)

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Yes, goats can eat silage of more or less any kind. It’s a great option as a winter food, and will keep your goats healthy and happy when they can’t forage a pasture. Depending on the kind of silage, you will need to look carefully at how much they are given—some are much more nutritionally dense.

 

For the most part, if you can store enough of it, grass silage is a perfectly acceptable winter foodstuff for goats.

It will keep them nourished and mostly happy, as long as you provide them some treats, too.

Let’s look further into this.

Can Goats Eat Silage?

 

Is silage good for goats?

Yes, it really is—depending on the kind of silage we are talking about, it is pretty much the go-to option as winter food for goats.

Just to clarify what precisely we mean by silage, it is compacted and stored plant matter that is not dried—unlike hay.

For this reason, straight away, it is more nutritionally dense.

It has a much higher moisture content and is in fact already partially digested by the ‘pickling’ process of being stored without being dried.

This makes it easier to digest for your goats.

Retaining this moisture also allows the silage to retain a much higher amount of its nutritional quality.

Things like grass are already very meager in terms of nutrient quality, and your goat needs a lot to get many benefits.

This is even truer of dried hay—less so of silage.

Furthermore, you have a great choice of silages, and some are much higher in protein content if that is what you need.

Silage is a really great winter feed option, there is no doubt about it.

 

Is silage bad for goats?

No, is the simple answer.

There is nothing about the majority of types of silage that has any real chance of doing harm to your goats—as long as it is stored and given correctly.

This is really the only point I would make on this question.

If you plan to use silage as a winter feed, you need to be absolutely sure that it is stored in such a way that it won’t develop mold, or get infested by rodents.

You could have serious problems if your goats eat moldy silage or silage with rat droppings in, for example.

Take no chances and be absolutely sure that your silage is stored correctly, and you will have no problems.

 

Can goats eat grass silage?

Yes, grass silage is typically the go-to option.

It’s robust and nutritionally rich for goats, and though they will need a fair amount to get them through the whole winter, it remains the simplest to store and cultivate.

Grass silage will provide the basic backbone of your goat’s diet, and you can feed them extras here and there to add to their nutrition.

Most people opt for grass silage as it tends to be the cheapest option if you have harvestable grass on your property.

Grass silage is great for goats.

 

Can goats eat maize silage?

Yes, goats can eat maize silage, and it’s another great option that they will love.

Naturally, maize silage is a lot more nutritionally rich than most grass silage, and so is often preferred as a foodstuff fin that sense.

It’s denser in protein, higher in overall calorie content, and overall, more nutritionally rich.

That doesn’t automatically make it better than grass silage, though.

You’ll need to regulate how much they eat a bit more closely, and overall it isn’t quite as cost-effective most of the time.

In any case, goats can eat maize silage no problem and it’s a great choice if you have a maize crop.

Just be sure the crops contain no more than 75% moisture.

 

Can goats eat alfalfa silage?

Alfalfa is another great favorite of goat keepers around the world, in many, many forms.

Alfalfa silage is certainly a fantastic option, and one of the richest in protein.

Pound for pound, many would argue you get the best nutritional value out of alfalfa compared with other silages.

Whether or not this is true, alfalfa silage is certainly a fantastic option for your goat over the winter.

Again, the only thing to keep in mind is the different levels of moderation.

Alfalfa is so rich in protein, even in silage form, that your goats won’t need to eat as much.

Ultimately, whichever is easiest for you to create is probably going to be your best option!

 

So, as you can see, pretty much any kind of silage is perfectly fine for goats to eat.

If anything, it is indeed the best option for your goat’s basic winter diet.

Whatever you feed them, you will need a constant supply of something akin to hay or their warmer month forage.

Grass silage is really the easiest to manage, as long as you have the capacity to store enough.

That is the other important thing—storing it correctly. If you don’t, you could have a major disaster on your hands.

 

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