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Angora Feeding

19 years ago

Anyone know about Angora Goat nutrition?

I've had this particular goat for 5-6 years, and he appears to be thriving. However, he's getting increasingly more picky about his food.....

This is the first year that we've had so much rain that we have TOO much grass in the summer -- usually it's shriveled up and died by this time.

This seems like the most obvious answer, but just in case....

My land is low nitrogen, and I haven't fertilized. There's lots of grass.. 1 acre/1 goat - not a DENT in the grass. He grazes at dawn and dusk. I've tried to feed my goat 13% protein goat pellets, a high protein sweet feed, have wormed him, treated him for liver fluke etc....All he will eat is corn (unless hand fed, and he will nibble obligingly). I'm just NOT going to hand feed my goat unless he's in serious ill-health - which he doesn't seem to be. He picks out the corn from any kind of mixture I make, and leaves the rest to rot. He happily eats treats such as bread, left-over veggies etc. However, since he got picky - I don't give him treats anymore.

Being an Angora....he has LOTS of coat (I did shear him in the Spring), he has a plump belly (without it being swollen from worms/ascites), but I can feel his backbone, and hip bones (as I've always done - with him being just fine). I understand that Angoras put their nutrition into wool production, but am concerned with his low protein diet. He's still acting the same old Ernie. From my experience, Angoras aren't exactly active.....

Am I just seeing an old Angora goat that is perfectly OK on a low protein diet? or should I be worried?

He does have a nice shady shelter to bask in, and constant access to clean, albeit warmed by the sun, water.

Yes, he is mostly on his own, except for the chickens......however, I have run him with my sheep from time to time, and it doesn't seem like a good combination. He spends so much time defending food from the sheep, that I don't see him eating. He is perfectly content on his own. When I had other Angora goats, they spent their days beating him up, and I had to separate him 3 times in order to save his life....he's happy on his own now!

I spend a lot of time with my animals, therefore, I really DO know what is going on!

He's always been a very lazy goat, but is a pet, who is rather special.

Thanks for any experiences you can share...