Feed requirements for growing meat goats
How much energy growing meat goats need each day — at maintenance, growing. Worked out by the same engine that runs our calculators, from its cited requirement equations — AFRC 1993 for the most part, with CSIRO and New Zealand sources where they are the better reference.
Also asked about as Boer kids, weaner goats.
What these figures are, and aren't
- They are requirements, not allowances. This is what the animal needs to eat, not what to put in front of it. On pasture you have to offer more than this — for what gets trampled, fouled and left behind.
- Dry matter assumes 11 MJ ME/kg DM — a good ryegrass/clover pasture. On poorer feed the animal needs more kilograms for the same energy, and may not physically be able to eat them.
- Rolling country, no cold stress. Grazing costs energy on top of the housed figure, and steeper country costs more again. The calculator takes terrain and an optional cold-stress allowance.
- Protein is metabolisable protein (MP), not crude protein — what reaches the animal after the rumen, which is what the requirement is actually written in.
- Whether the animal can eat this much is a separate question. A requirement is what hitting the target takes, not what fits in the rumen — and on fibrous feed the gut fills before the appetite does. The calculator checks that against the feed you actually have.
Maintenance — holding weight
What it takes to stand still: no growth, no milk, no pregnancy. Every other figure on this page is this plus something.
| Liveweight | Energy | Dry matter | Protein (MP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 kg | 3.6 MJ | 0.3 kg DM | 23 g |
| 25 kg | 5.3 MJ | 0.5 kg DM | 34 g |
| 35 kg | 6.8 MJ | 0.6 kg DM | 43 g |
| 45 kg | 8.3 MJ | 0.8 kg DM | 52 g |
Growing
Daily requirement at a given liveweight and rate of gain. Gain gets dearer as an animal approaches its mature size, because it lays down proportionally more fat. Each cell is MJ of ME, with the dry matter that takes underneath.
| Liveweight | 50 g/day | 100 g/day | 150 g/day | 200 g/day | 250 g/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 kg | 4.4 MJ 0.4 kg DM | 5.3 MJ 0.5 kg DM | 6.2 MJ 0.6 kg DM | 7.1 MJ 0.6 kg DM | 8.0 MJ 0.7 kg DM |
| 25 kg | 6.3 MJ 0.6 kg DM | 7.3 MJ 0.7 kg DM | 8.3 MJ 0.8 kg DM | 9.3 MJ 0.8 kg DM | 10.4 MJ 0.9 kg DM |
| 35 kg | 8.0 MJ 0.7 kg DM | 9.1 MJ 0.8 kg DM | 10.3 MJ 0.9 kg DM | 11.5 MJ 1.0 kg DM | 12.6 MJ 1.1 kg DM |
| 45 kg | 9.6 MJ 0.9 kg DM | 10.9 MJ 1.0 kg DM | 12.2 MJ 1.1 kg DM | 13.5 MJ 1.2 kg DM | 14.8 MJ 1.3 kg DM |
Your stock, your feed
A table has to pick a liveweight and a diet quality. The calculator doesn't — put in your own weights, your target, the feeds you actually have, and it will tell you whether the diet gets there and which of energy, protein or gut fill runs out first.
Feedwise gives indicative models for decision support. It is not a substitute for a nutritionist or veterinarian — for animal-health decisions, talk to your vet.