Copper (Cu) is an essential trace mineral required for the healing of normal connective tissues including tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bone. Copper is also important for vibrant color in a goat’s skin and coat pigments. Copper has also shown to key for proper nerve signaling and the absorption and utilization of Iron. And of course Iron is key for healthy blood.
Copper deficiency in goats can result in poor hair coats, reduced growth, reduced fertility and impaired immune system function.
Feeding Nigerian dwarf goats can be as complicated as you want to make it. There are a Hardy animal that are easy to please but the simplest of diets could affect the quality of their milk.
Simplest goat diet
The simplest goat diet is to just let them roam free and eat to their hearts content all the weeds they can find. You’re guaranteed to have a very clean property and content goats, they will first only eat the weeds that they like and we’ll go after each weed type by preference so before a property is completely cleared it could be several weeks to months depending on size. And alternative to this method would be to use temporary fencing and locate the goats in a zone of weeds leaving them there until there’s nothing left but dirt. You will be pleased to see just how fast goats can cut down all the weeds and leave plenty of goat fertilizer behind. If you choose this method be sure to always leave to them free minerals so they can self-regulate the most important of these is a big tub of baking soda.
Again this can work against you especially if you are milking goats as what they eat will leave a taint and their milk. This may not be too bad if they’re eating sweet potatoes or yams but entirely bad if they’re in a forest full of eucalyptus.
Simplest feeding plan
If you are breeding goats, raising kids, or milking them you will want to get them on a more controlled diet. you can see a significant difference in the health of baby goats and the quality of the milk and then the sheen of their coat by the variety of foods that you get that give them. New basic feeding plan would start with alfalfa hay and grain always a continuous supply of freshwater, and free minerals one bucket of minerals would be baking soda, and another bucket of minerals would be one with supplements.
Fancy goat diet
The higher-end goat diets guaranteed to produce results on the quality of their milk the birth of strong babies, and you can even see it in the quality of their coat. These diets could spoil a goat once and they eat a fancy diet it takes quite a while for them to get content going back to simpler diets.
We recommend a variety here as well giving them different kinds of hay. For example Alfalfa in the morning and a forage hay or oat hay in the evening. In addition to this would give them grain in the mixture of about 40% grains, 50% dried beets, and 10% black oil sunflower seeds, which can be quite expensive.
Ultimate diet
The ultimate Nigerian dwarf Dairy goat diet starts with a fancy diet but more things are mixed in with their grain mixture. This varies from Farm to farm due to how much you willing to spend and how creative you can get and what You observe in your own experience experiments as you test the quality of their milk and look at the sheen of their coat. For example olive oil, supplements and cumin.
Mini breeders also choose to switch them to Hay pellets, instead of hay bales as this maybe more expensive but it reduces waste and allows the breeder to monitor the exact volume of their food intake.