Have you ever wondered, will goats really eat anything? There\u2019s often a perception that goats will merrily stand there munching on a tin can, a shirt, an old shoe, or anything else they can get their mouths around! However, the reality of things may be more complicated than this, and this perception may be somewhat distorted by the massive powers that Hollywood movies have over our perceptions of things. And don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 it\u2019s something I always believed of goats before owning them, too! With this thought in mind, today, we\u2019re looking at a few key questions: will goats eat anything, and if not, why do people think goats will eat everything? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we look further, perhaps we should first consider what goats are naturally supposed to eat. As browsers by nature, goats naturally prefer to have a pretty diverse and varied diet; this means that, when they are given the chance, they will seek out numerous different forages as part of their diet. However, among their favorite foods include tree leaves, weeds, and grasses \u2013 each of which would naturally be consumed in moderation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a ruminant, after consuming these forages, goats will then take a rest from eating to regurgitate the food, which allows them to chew it more thoroughly in a relaxed environment. This allows them to break down highly fibrous foods that other species \u2013 such as us as humans \u2013 would have trouble with digesting naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s generally a myth that goats will eat anything. This might leave you wondering, why do<\/em> goats everything put in front of them? This was something I thought, as well, when getting into goats, too. But, the reality is actually much more complex since goats are surprisingly finickity animals when it comes to food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, however. For example, while many goats will happily eat straw bedding from the ground, if their hay should fall to the floor, they likely won\u2019t touch it! This \u201cfussiness\u201d may actually help goats avoid taking in worms from the bedding or pasture, however, so it\u2019s not entirely bad. Still, as a new goat keeper, it can be a little frustrating to work out how to feed goats without them wasting half of what you give them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n While goats are incredibly fussy with most foods, they are also exceptionally curious and typically have a tendency to nibble on things \u2013 the edges of old t-shirts and wellies are a testament to that! Still, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that goats will eat anything; rather, it just means they will likely nibble on a lot of things out of curiosity. This can, of course, present a risk \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t want your goats nibbling on a plastic wrapper that\u2019s found its way into your fields, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since goats will attempt to nibble everything \u2013 even if they\u2019re not necessarily likely to eat it entirely \u2013 taking steps to prevent this is vital. There are two key factors you should consider in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, you must ensure that your goats have access to a healthy diet that\u2019s suitable for their mineral and nutritional requirements. Every goat is different, of course, so a nutritionist\u2019s guidance is best sought in this regard. Minerals can be especially tricky to get right, but a blood mineral analysis by your veterinarian could give you an idea of what minerals your goats are lacking. Ensuring they have a suitable (palatable) diet will potentially help stop them from looking for trouble and things to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, you should always strive to keep things that you don\u2019t want your goat to eat out of their pen. Be on the lookout for poisonous plants, plastic wrappers, or anything else that might be possible for your goats to eat. Removing these from the pen is really the only way to stop your goats from eating them for certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, make sure your pens are secure! Some goats can be troublemakers, and others are escape artists. Put this together, and your goats could potentially get out and end up eating things you don\u2019t want them to. Keeping fencelines secure and strong is a great way to avoid this becoming a significant risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the aforementioned points, we strongly recommend you consider the following three tips to keep your goats happy and healthy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not always easy to outline questions such as, \u201cwhy do people think goats eat everything,\u201d since there are naturally numerous contributing factors to this. But, while many people assume goats will eat anything, they are actually much pickier than you might realize. Well, when it suits them \u2013 sometimes, there really is no judging what a goat will or won\u2019t eat! With this in mind, when keeping goats, either for pets or as a farm animal, it\u2019s important to ensure they are kept away from anything you don\u2019t want them to eat, just in case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever wondered, will goats really eat anything? There\u2019s often a perception that goats will merrily stand there munching on a tin can, a shirt, an old shoe, or anything else they can get their mouths around! However, the reality of things may be more complicated than this, and this perception may be somewhat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herdiac.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Some Goats Might Seem to Eat Everything <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What Farmers Can Do To Prevent Goats from Eating Everything<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tips for Keeping your Goat Healthy and Happy <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n