Prancing Pony Farm Mini Nubian & Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats & Maremma Sheepdogs
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    • Our Maremma Sheepdogs >
      • Sevro
      • Simba
      • Gianna
      • Marcella
      • Marisa
      • Celeste
      • Electra
      • Olaf
      • Genevieve
      • Carina
      • Polar
    • Maremma Puppies - Past Litters
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  • Our Dairy Goat Herd
    • Mini Nubian Does
    • Yearling & First Freshener Mini Nubian Does
    • Junior Mini Nubian does
    • Mini Nubian Bucks
    • Reference Mini Nubian Does
    • Reference Mini Nubian Bucks
    • Standard Nubian Does
    • Nigerian Dwarf Does
    • Yearling & First Freshener Nigerian Dwarf Does
    • Junior Nigerian Dwarf does
    • Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
    • Reference Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
    • Reference Nigerian Dwarf Does
  • Goat care & Info
    • Goat care articles
    • Useful Animal Products & Links
    • Annual Disease Testing of Goats
    • Bringing Home Your New Goat
    • Health concerns of your new goat
    • Feeding Our Mini Dairy Goats
    • Feeding Mini & Dwarf Baby Goats
    • Housing Does & Kids
    • Supplies for Goats
    • Goat Parasites
    • Coccidiosis in Goats
    • Pneumonia in Goats
    • Clicker Training Goats
    • Goat Hoof Trimming
    • Milking Dairy Goats
    • Our Dairy Goat Milking Parlor
    • Disbudding Mini & Dwarf Goats
    • Nigerian Dwarf Goats
    • Mini Nubian Goats
    • Mini Nubian Ears
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  • Past Kidding Seasons
    • The Kidding Barn
    • 2020 Mini Nubian Kids
    • 2020 Nigerian Dwarf Kids
    • 2019 Fall Kids
    • 2019 Spring Kids
    • 2018 Fall Kids
    • 2018 Spring Kids
    • 2018 Mini Nubian kids
    • 2018 Nigerian Dwarf kids
    • 2017 Spring Kids

Feeding Our Mini Dairy Goats

We prefer to feed all of our animals as healthfully and naturally as possible. We avoid most commercial feeds because they are usually full of soy, GMO's, by-products, chemicals and other questionable ingredients. We drink the milk from our goats and eat the eggs from our chickens so we don't want this stuff passed on to us. Furthermore we want our animals to live a long and healthy life and we feel that avoiding certain feed stuffs will help them do so.

All of our Goats Get:

Hay & Forage

  • Free choice alfalfa hay. Some Orchard Grass or forage hay for variety.
  • Trimmings from our non-poisonous trees. Goats are browsers (like deer), not grazers, and love eating the leaves and bark off of trees. Just be sure they aren’t toxic. And fence off any trees or bushes you don’t want them to eat or they will have a feast and might destroy them!
High quality alfalfa hay is the basis of our goats' diet and we go through a lot of it!

Loose Goat Minerals

  • Free choice loose minerals (NOT blocks - goats can’t lick/chew them well) - we use and highly recommend Crafts-MIN Organic cattle & goat mineral, which we order online from Grass Farmer Supply in Minnesota. It’s all organic, really high in Copper and Selenium, which are very deficient where we live, and also contains Icelandic Kelp and a lot of other great ingredients.
  • If you can’t get CraftsMin then Sweetlix Magnum Milk or Meat Maker is our second choice and available at most feed stores. We do NOT use Sweetlix and don’t think it comes close to Craftsmin in quality and nutrition, but it’s a decent substitute for those that don’t want to order Craftsmin.
  • We do NOT recommend the Manna Pro mineral from Tractor Supply at all. It's not well balanced and our goats wouldn’t even touch it! In fact we haven’t found any mineral at Tractor Suoply to be worth the money so do yourself and your goats a favor and buy Craftsmin!
  • Please note that you shouldn’t use any mineral that’s high in copper and selenium, including Craftsmin or Sweetlix,if you have too much of these minerals in your soil. Most areas a deficient in them but not all so do your own research before feeding any product to your goats!

To order the mineral we use & recommend click the button below:

Crafts-MIN Minerals
CraftsMin loose organic minerals balance out the hay and keep our herd healthy!

Supplemental Items

Grain:
We don't feed much grain since goats are ruminants and get most of what they need from high our quality alfalfa (and grass or forage) hay and free choice loose Crafts-Min minerals. Roughage (hay, trees, etc), not grain, is what makes milk and keeps goats healthy, so that's the foundation of their diet, while the minerals balance everything out. We do give some grain to does on the milk stand. Our bucks don’t get any grain. Grain is not good for male goats as most grains are high in phosphorus and can cause urinary calculi! Please, don’t feed your male goats grain, especially pet wethers. It can lead to a very sad end. (Alfalfa is ok for bucks and wethers as it actually helps prevent UC. Just don’t overfeed it or they can get too fat!) We have not found a need to feed our bucks grain even during breeding season because they get everything they need from alfalfa hay and CraftsMin loose minerals.

We don't like to use commercial feeds because of all the GMO's, soy, etc. We also refuse to use any feed that doesn’t use a fixed formula. Therefore we feed either whole oats or rolled barley (or both) or 4 way COB to does on the milk stand, nursing does and kids and as an occasional treat to dry does. Sometimes we add a little BOSS (Black oil sunflower seed) for variety.

Electrolytes: when it’s really hot out we give electrolytes to keep the goats hydrated, especially does in milk and young kids. Our brand of choice is Sheep and Goat BlueLite, which we get at Premier 1.

Treats: We use DuMOR grass hay pellets or Manna Pro Saddle Snacks horse treats as a treat and the goats and horses love them. If you see the goats or horses mugging my pockets they are looking for these treats! ☺️
Yummy treats for our goats!
Electrolytes keep goats hydrated and boost milk production on really hot days!

Feeding Baby Goats
Contact: Kim Crawmer (559) 904-5193 or kim@prancingponyfarm.com or fill out our Contact Form, Puppy Questionnaire or Goat Questionnaire to help us help you find the perfect goats or Livestock Guardian Dog.
We are located in Lemoore, California.
Goat Reservations
Puppy Reservations
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact us
    • Farm Visits
    • Farm Store
    • Herd Shares
    • Covid 19 Response
  • Goats for Sale
    • Baby Goats For Sale
    • Adult Goats for Sale
    • Baby Goats Fall 2020
    • Breeding Plan
    • Goat Questionnaire
    • Spring 2021 Mini Nubian Kids
    • Spring 2021 Nigerian Dwarf Kids
    • Goat Stud service info
    • Sales Policies
  • Maremma Sheepdogs for Sale
    • Puppy Questionnaire
    • How we Raise and Train our Maremmas
    • Our Maremma Sheepdogs >
      • Sevro
      • Simba
      • Gianna
      • Marcella
      • Marisa
      • Celeste
      • Electra
      • Olaf
      • Genevieve
      • Carina
      • Polar
    • Maremma Puppies - Past Litters
    • Our Puppies in Their New Homes
    • About Maremma Sheepdogs
    • Livestock Guardian Dog Info & Links
    • Goat Milk for Healthy Dogs and Puppies
  • Our Dairy Goat Herd
    • Mini Nubian Does
    • Yearling & First Freshener Mini Nubian Does
    • Junior Mini Nubian does
    • Mini Nubian Bucks
    • Reference Mini Nubian Does
    • Reference Mini Nubian Bucks
    • Standard Nubian Does
    • Nigerian Dwarf Does
    • Yearling & First Freshener Nigerian Dwarf Does
    • Junior Nigerian Dwarf does
    • Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
    • Reference Nigerian Dwarf Bucks
    • Reference Nigerian Dwarf Does
  • Goat care & Info
    • Goat care articles
    • Useful Animal Products & Links
    • Annual Disease Testing of Goats
    • Bringing Home Your New Goat
    • Health concerns of your new goat
    • Feeding Our Mini Dairy Goats
    • Feeding Mini & Dwarf Baby Goats
    • Housing Does & Kids
    • Supplies for Goats
    • Goat Parasites
    • Coccidiosis in Goats
    • Pneumonia in Goats
    • Clicker Training Goats
    • Goat Hoof Trimming
    • Milking Dairy Goats
    • Our Dairy Goat Milking Parlor
    • Disbudding Mini & Dwarf Goats
    • Nigerian Dwarf Goats
    • Mini Nubian Goats
    • Mini Nubian Ears
  • Farm Blog
    • Unicorn Photo Sessions
    • Our Prancing Ponies
    • Fun Farm videos
  • Past Kidding Seasons
    • The Kidding Barn
    • 2020 Mini Nubian Kids
    • 2020 Nigerian Dwarf Kids
    • 2019 Fall Kids
    • 2019 Spring Kids
    • 2018 Fall Kids
    • 2018 Spring Kids
    • 2018 Mini Nubian kids
    • 2018 Nigerian Dwarf kids
    • 2017 Spring Kids