Why is it better to feed the goat after lambing to increase milk, drawing up a diet
What can you feed your goat immediately after lambing? It is recommended that the female giving birth to the kids be drunk with warm sweet water. After 3-4 hours, the goat can be fed with legume-cereal hay or green grass. As an additive, animals are allowed to give juicy fruits and vegetables, as well as corn silage. It is important to remember that the more water in the feed, the more milk there will be in the udder.
Why change your diet?
A goat is a pet that is kept for milk. She begins to milk only after the first lambing. The female gives birth, as a rule, somewhere in the second year of life. After the appearance of the first kid, the animal can milk for a very long time. However, to prolong lactation, the female will have to mate once a year.
In connection with pregnancy, various changes occur in the animal's body. This is due to the bearing of the fetus. During this period, the milking goat is gradually stopped being milked. This is done so that all the nutrients go not into milk, but for the development of the future kid. 1-2 months before giving birth, the female completely stops milking.
Of course, milk production depends not only on the milking process itself, but also on what the goat is fed with. Any dairy animal before lambing or calving is recommended to be transferred to a special dry diet.
During gestation, the goat should eat plenty of legume-cereal hay and straw or fresh grass and green cereals.
Females can be fed with a small (compared to the lactation period) amount of grain (150 g per day), vegetables (170 g per day), corn silage (180 g per day). The lack of vitamins in winter is replenished with the help of pharmacy vitamin preparations and spruce branches.
After lambing, the diet of the animals must be changed again. To add milk to the menu of lambing goats, it is recommended to introduce more succulent feed (vegetables and silage). Indeed, such food contains a lot of water, which contributes to the production of more milk. Grain feeding should, on the contrary, be reduced. The diet of animals is changed in order to regulate milk yield.
What to give in the first hours?
Immediately after lambing, the female is advised to give warm water with sugar. Glucose will restore the strength of the animal and will have a good effect on lactation. A goat that has given birth can be fed only after 3-4 hours. It happens that immediately after lambing, an animal loses its appetite. To stimulate it, the female is given sauerkraut brine.
The goat, like any ruminant, must first be fed a diet of fiber to get the rumen to work. In winter, females are given legume-cereal hay, and in summer they can be taken out to pasture on green grass. In the first hours, the rate is reduced by half, then gradually the amount of feed is increased.After lambing, it is recommended to slightly introduce vegetables and silage into the diet of animals.
It is better not to give grain during this period. Goats recover well from cereals. However, this food does not increase lactation. The health of the kids depends on the nutrition of lactating females, and the amount of milk production in the udder depends on the content of juicy feed in the diet.
Rules for feeding goats after lambing
Usually females are covered in autumn, and their kids are born in spring. During this period, the main food of animals is hay and straw.
True, closer to summer in roughage the percentage of vitamins and minerals decreases.
As an additive to females after giving birth, it is recommended to give more vegetables (carrots, sugar beets, pumpkin). Sunflower cake will help to increase the fat content. Grain mixtures (corn, barley, oats) can be given after hay, but not more than 200 grams per day.
Water has a positive effect on increasing lactation. The female is watered in between feedings, usually 2 times a day. One animal is given at least 5 liters of water at a time. You can add a little sugar (50 grams) to the liquid.
It is much easier to milk a lambing goat in summer. Physical activity, walking in the fresh air and, of course, green grass help to increase lactation. The lactating female should eat plenty. Usually a goat eats up to 6-8 kg of grass per day.
Features of feeding in winter
To increase milk yield in winter, lambing females are given more water and succulent feed. It is forbidden to drastically change the diet of animals. Hay should remain the main forage in winter (up to 2-3 kg per day). As an additive, females are given juicy and sweet vegetables.
In winter, the menu of goats should contain grain mixtures, cake, meal, mixed fodder. Recommended amount of concentrated feed: from 100 to 200 grams. To avoid ketosis, in parallel with grain, females are given water with sugar, spruce or pine branches, salt (10 g per day per individual), pharmacy vitamins and minerals.
Return to normal mode
In the first weeks, all milk should be spent on feeding the newborn animals. To increase lactation, it is recommended to milk the female at least once a day, immediately after feeding the cubs. Not a drop of milk should remain in the udder. This procedure will signal the brain and increase lactation.
The kid can live under its mother and feed on milk for up to 3 months. Gradually, it is transferred to vegetable feed. The nutrition of the female must be given special attention after feeding the kids. Indeed, the lactation of the animal and the fat content of milk depend on the quality and quantity of feed. In normal mode, the goat should eat plenty.
The main food in summer is grass, in winter it is hay. The goats are given water between feedings. The diet should contain salt. As a feeding, animals are given vegetables, fruits, tops, grain mixtures. It is useful for females to eat oats, barley, corn. In winter and summer, it is recommended to give goats boiled potatoes, mixed fodder, cake, meal, premixes, tree branches, leaves of horticultural crops.
What do breeders advise?
Experienced livestock specialists recommend giving a pregnant milking goat in winter dry food (hay, straw), less water, a small amount of vegetables (carrots, beets) and minimal doses of grain. You can support the body of females with the help of pharmacy vitamins and minerals.
After lambing in the spring-winter period, hay should remain the goat's main food. It is a food containing fiber. It is the hay that improves the rumen performance.It is recommended to give more juicy vegetables or silage (corn) as an additive to lambing females. The more water in the feed, the more milk there will be. In case of problems with digestion and lack of appetite, goats are given nutritional yeast, cabbage brine, dill, and cumin broth. The room where the animals are kept should be light. Females eat much worse in the dark.
In summer, a lambing goat can receive all the nutrients in the meadow. The main thing is to make sure that the animal does not eat poisonous plants. Goats are very curious and taste everything. Females should preferably graze in a meadow where clover, dandelions, nettles, alfalfa, timothy, fescue grow.
It is recommended to milk a lambing goat that is feeding its young. True, this should be done only after the kids have drunk enough milk. Livestock experts advise milking the goat 2-3 times a day. Before milking, the udder of the female should be washed, wiped, and the nipples should be greased. This procedure will help to milk the goat correctly, increase the amount of milk, and prolong lactation for a few more months.
