PROTEIN
What Happens When You Feed Too Much

Getting nutrition right is the most difficult part of raising goats, whether your herd is closely or loosely managed. Most goat raisers overfeed or underfeed; fewer folks get the amounts correct. WHY feeding properly is important to goat health is explained in this article.

Show and pet goat raisers tend to overfeed. People raising goats to sell for meat sometimes don't feed enough or properly, trying to save on cost of feed. This doesn't work in a species that has a very fast metabolism (11-hour rumen passage rate) and must have quality nutrition for proper digestion and meat production.

Most goat ranchers understand that overfeeding can result in serious illnesses like ruminal acidosis and laminitis-founder. Articles on each of these topics are on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

Too much protein can slow the rate of weight gain. Sounds odd, right? But it is true. When a goat is fed a protein level higher than its body requires, ENERGY that would be used in producing muscle must instead be used to remove excess protein from the body. The result can be a reduced rate of gain and higher feed costs to the producer.

The process of removing excess protein from the body via urine is a bit complicated but goat raisers need to understand it. Micro-organisms change protein to ammonia molecules and then remake them into amino acids that make up protein chains. Ammonia molecules that are not utilized by the micro-organisms are absorbed through the wall of the rumen and circulate in the blood stream. Because ammonia build-up in the kidneys can be toxic, these molecules must be converted from ammonia to urea. Urea is then excreted from the kidneys in the form of urine.

The process of changing from ammonia to urea to urine is the ENERGY cost of having excess protein in the goat's diet. A little excess protein can be tolerated. A high level of excess protein has both an energy cost and a monetary cost because protein is usually the most expensive nutrient in livestock feed.

How much is too much protein? That's a complex question that can be variable from herd to herd. I can tell you what I feed and what I won't feed. I feed a 16% protein pelleted goat feed that has a 2-1/2 to 1 calcium-to-phosphorus ratio that was formulated specifically for my goats. There are many other things in this ration that are equally important; protein isn't the only consideration when buying a feed ration. If you think your feeding might be a bit less than it should be, supplement with soft-enough-to-bite-off-easily "sheep & goat" protein blocks.

I see no reason ever to feed more than 16% protein to a meat goat. I feed this ration only one time per day in the morning. Many people feed sacked feed twice a day and I disagree with that approach, unless the goat is nursing three or more kids. The only time you can safely push feed on a goat is when she is lactating.

SUMMARY : A feed that is higher in protein than the goat needs results in an expenditure of ENERGY by the goat's body to eliminate excess protein that would otherwise have been used to produce muscling (meat).

My thanks to Kent Mills, Livestock Nutritionist with HiPro Feeds in Texas, for his assistance in producing this article.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas 4.1.25

The author, Suzanne Gasparotto, hereby grants to local goat publications and club newsletters, permission to reprint articles published on the Onion Creek Ranch website under these conditions: THE ARTICLE MUST BE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND THE AUTHOR'S NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REPRINT. We would appreciate notification from any clubs or publications when the articles are used. (A copy of the newsletter or publication would also be a welcome addition to our growing library of goat related information!)

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