Goat Question

[farmercoop]

Hi there, just wondered if it was legal to feed goats kitchen scraps, by that i mean like milk, cheese, potato and other veg peelings, fruit peelings and bread etc? thanks Joe

[farmercoop]

anyonme?

[farmerdrea]

I don't know anything about the legality of it, but I wouldn't feed a goat up on milk (unless it's an unweaned kid, or has mastitis - and then I'd give a milking doe a little of her own milk from the affected side).

The other scraps you've mentioned, as long as they are quite fresh (like as SOON as you have made them) the goats would probably quite happily eat. Except the potato peelings, as, being in the nightshade family, are poisonous unless they are cooked (and we just feed them to the chooks anyway).

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[mauzi]

sorry, can't help you on that one. Probably different rules anyway. Good luck.

[ina]

Except the potato peelings, as, being in the nightshade family, are poisonous unless they are cooked (and we just feed them to the chooks anyway).

Actually, potatoes are often fed to ruminants as part of their normal diet, so it can't be all that bad with the poison... (Yes, a lot of outgraded tatties go to cows, quite officially.) Mind you, my goats don't like to eat them!

[ainslie]

Don't know about legalities either. Feeding byproducts to commercially produced animals is regulated in Canada. The main concern is with meat and making sure it is cooked through before it is fed. There are "guidelines" for feeding other byproducts too, such as whey, stuff from the breweries, etc. but I don't know what they are. This probably doesn't apply to you.

My understanding of potatoes is that they are only poisonous when they have turned green, and then it is only the green part that is poisonous. The following is an excerpt from a gardening advice site, but it's also what my father (a livestock and potato farmer) taught me:

"What causes potatoes to turn green? The answer is a bitter-tasting chemical called solanine. Solanine is produced when the potatoes are exposed to sunlight. Even fluorescent lighting at the supermarket can make them turn green [that's why they should be sold in paper bags, not the clear plastic bags you see nowadays!]. Solanine is toxic if consumed in large quantities, so cut away and discard any green portions of potato before you cook with them."

And don't feed the green parts to anyone!

I have fed (not green) potato peelings to horses for decades - it actually was one of the best ways to catch my far-too-clever-and-lazy ponies & horses in the field, they love 'em - and if any animal was going to get sick from eating something, it would be horses!:)

My goats eat potato peels and other kitchen vegetable scraps but only when they are very fresh and relatively clean. They won't touch anything that is even a bit muddy from the garden and won't eat wilty stuff except kale. Even at that, it depends on the day and their mood as to whether they will accept it or not! Caution with feeding strong smelling and tasting things like onions or turnip if you use your goat milk for human consumption, it won't hurt you but you will taste it! Not the best way to make "onion cheese!"

If you fed milk to the goat and it got into the rumen, it could upset the balance there and could cause serious problems. However you could research uses of yoghurt as it is a beneficial bacterial culture and may enhance rumen activity?? It (or the Lactobacillis that makes yoghurt) is used successfully as a "natural" growth promoter in other animals that are not ruminants ie. swine. My research into feeding Lactobacillis to swine showed that it boosts the immune system, so the pig can use it's energy to grow instead of fight off disease, among other things. It also showed that "too much is NOT a good thing" and will harm them. Like all new feedstuffs, it's important to phase something like that in gradually.

Have I just gone off at the mouth or is this helpful?

[ina]

As far as I know it's illegal to feed anything to your livestock that's been in your kitchen... So all kinds of scraps are out, whether it's pigs, goats or hens you want to feed them to!

I'm sure there was another thread on this subject here somewhere...