Aside from the usual forbs, browse, and hay that goats are expected to eat many breeders provide additional nutrition in the form of prepared feed. Good goat feed usually comes out of a sack. The ingredients of these feeds have been very hard to discover because the sellers of the feed have a proprietary interest in keeping their "formula" secret - they make their living selling feed and if they revealed the ingredients it would very likely put them out of business. It's the same in any business so don't go thinking that these feed companies are bad guys... they're just protecting their own interests.

Prudent breeders, however, constantly keep their eyes and ears open for sources of information and such a source has been found. The Oklahoma Meat Goat Association and the Agricultural Research and Extension Program at Langston University recently released the formula for the feed used in their performance tests.

Here is the ingredients list of the ration which was formulated by the nutritionists at Langston University. This is the ration that was fed during the 2000 Oklahoma Meat Buck Performance Test. It appears that it could be used as a complete feed even in the most intensive management conditions.

This is the same formula used for the 2000 buck test.

This ration may not be the best for all environments but can be a good starting point when working with your nutritionist to provide the most efficient and nutritious feed for your goats.