Besides water and hay, goat mineral is the next most important aspect of your goat management program. If you don’t believe me or would like more information, please follow this link, Goat Mineral, to learn more. Baking soda is also very important! 

Seriously. This is not something to shirk on. If you don’t have goat mineral and baking soda out for your goats right now, stop reading and go get some.

I’ll wait…

😉

PIN ME for later!

You can find a lot of articles here on A Life of Heritage that will teach you about goat care and be sure to check out The Goat Health, and Information Bundle–it’s full of to-do lists, checklists, record keeping sheets, and resource pages that will get your new (or old) goat herd off to a terrific start!

Goat Essential ↓

Goat Management Binder

Photo Credit: A Life of Heritage

You are organized. You are knowledgeable. You are proactive. This is how. Click below to get this binder in your hands to avoid common errors that affect your goat's health. These records are your freedom and your goat's optimal health.

Continue Reading

I started out providing mineral and baking soda, free choice, in the dispensers below but I realized after a couple of months that this was not going to work well. So I modified the setup a bit.

Homemade Goat Mineral Feeder (That I Changed–more pictures below)

There were several factors that helped me decide to change the goat mineral feeders shown in the picture above:

• They were too tall. Goats like fresh baking soda and mineral and if something did go awry, the contents were ruined and therefore not eaten. It didn’t make sense to keep filling and filling to the top because there were three feet of possibility for things to go wrong and get clogged up.

• There was also no protection from the weather. Although this is located on the east side of the barn and therefore usually out of the wind, it still allowed for moisture to accumulate into the openings and ruin the expensive mineral.

• The deep opening and bottom. These fittings were too deep and allowed a bunch of minerals to go to the bottom and to be ruined and wasted. That doesn’t make sense, right?

What was the solution that worked? (Keep reading!)

The solution was to fill the bottom with self-leveling cement. This stuff is fun! It’s so easy to make and I love to have a bag around at all times…because you just never know when you might need it!

 

As shown in the pictures below, I mixed water with the cement inside the bottom of the PVC pipe with a stick. 😉 I’m preeetty high-tech!

You can find the instructions on the bag of cement. I’ll be honest, I just mix until it’s just right. It’s pretty easy to handle!

After mixing, the mineral feeders sat for 24 hours to dry, and then the mineral and baking soda were added!

The photo below shows that the green portions of the PVC pipes were also cut down considerably. It was cut to about one foot and seems to be the perfect amount to be filled every couple of weeks to a month, depending on how many goats are using it.

The level of the cement is just right as well. The mineral is at the perfect level for none of it to get lost in the back or bottom of the feeder.

They have no difficulties getting their noses into the openings and getting to the contents.

After cutting down the size of the goat mineral feeders, it was also important to cover them as well. And what better way than a stand for them to jump on? 🙂

Kids of all shapes and sizes enjoy the stand!

And it’s the perfect setup for a first kiss. 🙂

How the mineral and baking soda are displayed for goat consumption doesn’t matter. But this PVC pipe feeder for goats has been a great choice for our setup.

✓ It’s inexpensive!

✓ Easy to assemble!

✓ Durable!

✓ Keeps loose minerals off the ground and away from dirty feet.

✓ Easy to check and fill.

And that my dear friends, makes it a very good choice for feeding loose minerals to your goats.