Salt - Forum - Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

You will see mixed advice on this topic. However, I can't think of a reason goats would need a separate source of salt. Most minerals use salt as the element that controls consumption. The salt in the mineral keeps them from over-consuming it, and the nutritionists who put together the blends figure out how much salt there needs to be in there to make it work. If you provide another source of sodium -- even baking soda -- it can theoretically reduce the amount of minerals they consume, which could results in some sort of deficiency. I personally do keep baking soda available because I want them to have it available if they need it as a buffer to keep their rumen functioning properly. I recently had a very long conversation with the nutritionist from Sweetlix and she was adamant that you should have no other source of sodium available. The target for their particular mineral, however, is 1/2 to 1 pound per month, per animal, and my goats consume that much, so I'm not going to worry about the baking soda. A loose mineral and baking soda is a great place to start. If your goats seem to have any issues with nutritional deficiencies, then you can look at adding other things.

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Deborah Niemann-Boehle December 1, 2012 at 9:15pm

You will see mixed advice on this topic. However, I can't think of a reason goats would need a separate source of salt. Most minerals use salt as the element that controls consumption. The salt in the mineral keeps them from over-consuming it, and the nutritionists who put together the blends figure out how much salt there needs to be in there to make it work. If you provide another source of sodium -- even baking soda -- it can theoretically reduce the amount of minerals they consume, which could results in some sort of deficiency. I personally do keep baking soda available because I want them to have it available if they need it as a buffer to keep their rumen functioning properly. I recently had a very long conversation with the nutritionist from Sweetlix and she was adamant that you should have no other source of sodium available. The target for their particular mineral, however, is 1/2 to 1 pound per month, per animal, and my goats consume that much, so I'm not going to worry about the baking soda. A loose mineral and baking soda is a great place to start. If your goats seem to have any issues with nutritional deficiencies, then you can look at adding other things.

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