A goat mineral feeder is a very useful and urgent material for raising healthy goat. It’s very easy to make a goat mineral feeder and you will be able to make it yourself buy using easily available materials.
The main benefit of using a goat mineral feeder is that ‘your goats will not be able to waste the expensive minerals’. However, making a homemade mineral feeder for your goats is very easy, cheap and effective.
If you are looking for mineral feeders for your goats, then you can either buy the expensive mineral feeders available online or build the feeder of your own by using easily available and cheap materials.
Why Do We Need Goat Mineral Feeder?
Actually, goats need to free choice loose minerals 24/7. But the main problem is, most mineral feeders don’t have a way to prevent the goats from stepping or pooping in their minerals. Mineral is the most important aspect of your goat farming business beside water and hay/grass. If you don’t use a mineral feeder, then you have to replace their mineral several times a day which will be a huge waste and costly too. Photo form ALifeOfHeritage. So, using a mineral feeder is an excellent way to provide your goats with required minerals.
How To Make A Goat Mineral Feeder?
There are actually many different variations on this kind of homemade feeder out there. But here we are trying to describe a step-by-step guide for building an easy, affordable homemade mineral feeder for your goats. Just like the picture you can see above.
Necessary Supplies
Necessary supplies for making a homemade mineral feeders for your goats:
- 4 inch plastic pipe (as long as you want)
- V-shaped connector (wye)
- A cap for the bottom of the pipe and
- Wire or bungee cords for installation
Making Instructions
First of all, firmly connect the wye to the 4-inch pipe. Then, attach the cap at the bottom of the wye. Actually, the wye will be the opening to the feeder. This size of the wye is just the right size for a goat’s nose to fit to grab the right amount of mineral to meet it’s daily mineral needs. You can also attach a cap to the top of the feeder if you want to keep moisture or dust from imploding into the mineral.
Exact length of the pipe depends on your preference. You can choose the length of the pipe as long or short as you want. After determining the right length, cut it with some sharp pipe cutters. Filling the feeder with minerals is very easy. You just simply pour the mineral into the top of the pipe carefully.
Attach The Feeder
After making the feeder, attach it securely. Use the wire or bungee cords for attaching the feeder to the side of your goat house. This will keep your mineral fresh. And doing so will also help to keep the feeder from being knocked over by weather or goats. You can also tie the feeder to a tree or post, if your goats are on pasture. Just ensure, it is completely secure and easy for the goats to access the minerals.
Try to keep the feeder under a shade for keeping it safe from getting wet in the rain. You can also place a PVC cap over the top of the mineral feeder for keeping the rain from drenching the top of the mineral.
How Much Minerals Do Goats Need?
Generally, it will take 40 goats about 3 weeks to consume 25 lbs of loose mineral during their times of extreme nutritional needs. Other times, the mineral will last up to a couple of months.
What Kind Of Minerals?
You can provide your goats either goat mineral or loose mineral depending on the number of your goats. If you have a few goats, then you can give them goat minerals which are easily available in the market.
But, if you have numerous goats, then we will recommend loose mineral. You can also provide your goats with cattle mineral.
