NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS AND
FEEDING OF GOAT AND SHEEP
Applied Ruminant Nutrition
Department of Animal Nutrition
• Feeding habit of goat is termed browsing.
• They stand on their hind limbs and pluck the tender leafy twigs of herbs, shrubs and small
trees.
• Goat has a wider range of feed acceptability and fibre digestibility compared to cattle and
buffaloes.
• When expressed in percentage of body weight, the DM intake of small breeds of goats
• is greater than larger breeds
• DM intake of goats rises just after parturition and reaches maximum between 6 and 10
weeks of lactation and then decreases.
Nutrient requirements and feeding of goats
• Dry matter consumption varies from 3-7% of body weight.
• Meat goats: 4% of BW Dairy goats: 4-6% of BW
• Goats can consume more feed per unit body weight than either cow or sheep.
• Nitrogen to Sulphur ratio of diet should be generally 10:1
• The maintenance requirements of energy and protein were 125 kcal DE and 3.13 g
DCP/kg W0.75
• TDN requirement for maintenance is 30g/kg W0.75
• The nutrient conversion efficiency for milk production of a dairy cow is on an average
38%, where as for goat it ranges between 45-71%
Energy requirements (per kg W0.75) of goat breeds for maintenance and different
production traits
Nutrient requirements for maintenance of goats
Live DM DCP TDN Ca P
weight (g) (g) (g) (g) (g)
(Kg)
15 500 23 240 1.1 0.7
20 615 29 295 1.3 0.9
30 830 34 350 1.6 1.1
40 1040 48 500 2.3 1.5
50 1230 57 590 2.7 1.8
60 1410 66 675 3.1 2.1
Nutrient requirements of mature does (dairy) for maintenance only
Feeding of kids
• Upto 3 months of age, milk feeding is done.
• Milk is fed at the rate-1/6th of the body weight for the 1st month, 1/8th during the
second month and 1/10th-15th during the 3rd month.
• Kid starter and good quality fodder can be offered from the 2nd week onwards.
• Feeding schedule for different categories of goats
The feeding schedule for kids of different age is given below
Feeding of Creep Mixture
• The kids start nibbling the grasses from 15 days of age.
• Creep feed is also introduced at the same time
• Purpose is to give more nutrients for their rapid growth
• Contain 22 % protein
• Two types of creep mixtures can be offered depending on the type of the
roughage available.
• If grasses and cereal fodders are available, a creep feed with 18% DCP and 75%
TDN has to be offered.
• If leguminous fodders are available, a creep feed with 12% DCP and 70% TDN
has to be offered.
Pregnancy and Lactation
• Energy and protein requirements of mature does during breeding and rams prebreeding
are 10% greater than at other times
• Flushing is a strategy for increasing ovulation rate in females by feeding high-energy
feeds just before and during the breeding period.
• During the last 6 weeks of gestation there should be liberal feeding of good quality
fodder and 400-500 g of concentrate mixture.
• Total requirements of goats (30.4 kg BW and gaining 62 g/day) during the last two
months of gestation as 222 kcal DE and 5.55 g DCP/ kg W0.75
• After kidding, feed a bran mash for a few days, gradually bringing the doe to the full feed
for milk production.
• For each litre of 4%FCM produced, the dairy goat should be provided with 45g DCP and
345g TDN.
• The mineral requirement for lactation is 1.3g Ca, 1.1g P and 0.2g Mg/kg milk produced.
• Good quality concentrate mixture should be provided at the rate of 350 g for each litre
of milk produced over and above the maintenance requirement.
• The combined requirements for lactation (maintenance +milk production) were 313 kcal
DE, 256 kcal ME and 144 kcal NE/doe of 30 kg average body weight and producing 1 kg
with 4% FCM/day
FEEDING OF SHEEP
• Dry matter consumption is 2-3% of body weight
• Young tender grasses and common leguminous green fodder are more relished by sheep
• Sheep are superior to goats in their growth rate as young animals
• Methionine appears to be the first amino acid to be limited in microbial protein for both
wool growth and body gain
• Nitrogen to Sulphur ratio of diet should be generally 10:1
Maintenance requirement for sheep
1) DCP:- 2.73 g/kg W0.75
2) TDN:- 27.3 g/kg W0.75
3) ME:- 98 kcal/kg W0.75
• An adult sheep require about 2 litre of water a day during winter and 3.5 to 4 litre during
summer
• Addition of 5% tallow in sheep ration increased the gain and reduced the cost of feed per
kg gain
• A minimum of 3% fat in sheep rations is essential
Nutrient requirements of Indian sheep at different physiological stages (ICAR
2024)
Reproduction
• Flushing is practiced in ewes 2-3 weeks prior to the onset of breeding season
• Excessive energy intake may lead to obesity which results in birth difficulties in
ewes
• Low energy intakes can result in low birth weights of lambs and perhaps
pregnancy toxemia in ewes
• During the last 6 weeks of gestation, in addition to grazing, 250-400g of good
quality concentrate mixture is generally fed.
Gestation
Lactation
• For a lactating ewe during the first 3 days after lambing -----------little grain and bran mixture as
concentrate feed with enough quantity of good quality forage
• During the peak lactation, the DM intake go up to 4% of body weight
• The lactation requirements during the first 2 months are approximately twice the requirements
for maintenance at the corresponding body weight
• Fat conversion to milk is about 60% under protein and energy deficient rations whereas with
adequate protein fed, fat conversion to milk is 80%
• The diets for lactating ewe with twins/triplets needs to contain 14–16% CP and 64–66% TDN
during the first 6–8 weeks and then with a marginal reduction to have 13–14.5% CP and 63.5-
65% TDN during the last 4–6 weeks of lactation
WOOL PRODUCTION
• Protein nutrition important for wool growth and production
• Wool is composed entirely of protein with very high level of cysteine and serine
compared to other body tissues
• Growth of wool requires more protein relative to energy and draws amino acids,
particularly methionine and cysteine, disproportionately from the body pool
• Staple length and diameter of fibre was reduced at low level of feeding, while
crimps/cm increased.
• The efficiency with which metabolizable energy is used for wool production is
estimated to be about 18%.
Daily nutrient requirement of sheep for wool production
• Sulfur requirement of wool producing animals is quite high-synthesis of sulphur
containing amino acids and proteins
• Wool produced due to Copper deficiency is called steely wool or stringy wool.
• Copper is involved in crimp formation in wool fibre
• Deficiency of copper also affects the process of pigmentation in the wool due to
inhibition of tyrosinase required in the conversion of tyrosine to melanin
• Zn deficiency leads to parakeratosis due to keratinization of epithelial cells and results in
falling of hair or wool
• Selenium essential for the activation of deiodinase enzyme that converts thyroxine into
tri-iodotyrosine
• deficiency of Vitamin A reduces staple length and clean fleece weight