Goat Treat Recipes?

[Stacykins]

Does anyone have any goat treat recipes they'd be willing to share? I'd much rather make my own treat/biscuit for the goats I am bringing home soon than buy commercially made treats. I really like making my own stuff, because I know exactly what goes into it! And I am sure I can add healthy goodies like flaxseed meal, brewers yeast, etc. to make them healthier them commercial treats too!

 

[dreamriver]

not me, sorry. would be interested to see if others have some.

 

[Stacykins]

Looks like I will be doing a little bit of tinkering to develop a good recipe that is nutritious and irresistible by goats! I did find this one in the meantime. I hope to make something that keeps well, is nutritious, and is easy to make, in the form of a small biscuit or cookie.

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
2 cups raisin bran (crunched up works best)
1 cup raw wheat germ
4 large shredded carrots
1 cup molasses
cup applesauce

Preparation
Combine molasses and applesauce in a bowl.
Combine all other dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Gradually add the molasses and applesauce mixture to the dry ingredients to obtain a thick dough. (If more dry ingredients are needed, add a little more raisin bran and/or wheat germ to the mixture.)
Shape into desired-sized balls and place onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 300 degrees until dried out and done (about 30 minutes). Can burn easily.

 

[peteyfoozer]

Mine love soda crackers.

 

[bonbean01]

Mine like soda crackers too, but love graham wafers the best.

One treat I do bake that keeps is for my dogs and the sheep. Not a real recipe since I change it with what I have on hand when I bake them, but you'll get the idea that I use:

We grow tons of yellow crook neck squash in our garden and one thing I do with them is cook them, cool them, put them through the blender and then measure out how many cups I want per bag and freeze them. They are loaded with all kinds of vitamins.

I put one bag (2 or 4 cups depending on how big a batch I feel like doing) of thawed squash in a large bowl. Add eggs...anywhere from 4 to 12...depending on how well the girls are laying and then whisk that up.

Then I add what I have at the moment ... uncooked oatmeal, ground flax seed, wheat germ...any left over mashed potatoes (yeah..they aren't picky)...and then keep adding flour (white and whole wheat) until I have a very firm dough.

Sprinkle cornmeal on your counter and take chunks of the firm dough and roll very thin...put onto pans and bake at around 300 degrees until brown..then take out to cool and reuse pans .... this will keep you busy baking for a long time!

Once they are all baked and cooled, I break them into smaller pieces and heap them on two pans, put them in a low oven around 100 degrees and bake them a long time to dry them out so they won't mold or spoil.

Once they are all out, I spread them out to cool and dry overnight. Bag or put in tins the next day and I have never had one go moldy.

Dogs love them and so do the sheep and I think they have nutritional value to them...heck...hubby and I snack on them too...LOLOLOL!

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

I don't have any particular recipes that I follow/make....I don't necessarily give all at once, or even huge amounts to free feed on...These are used as treats, and to help keep calm during certain process...(hoof trimming, pregnancy, shearing/clipping for showing, and sometimes just because....)

BUT our goats and sheep love these....(as well as pigs, rabbits, chickens, horse---all the animals we have here)

**apple branches to nibble on
**dried fruit (apples, banana's, raisins)
**graham crackers(during the fair we --along with another family-- live with the goats, and they have the towns fireworks display...this goes on right over the goat barn...well one of the only ways to keep them calm is to climb in the pens with them, and feed them graham crackers...)
**squash, pumpkins, gourds
**corn stalks outta the garden when done for the year
**dried foods like oatmeal
**sometimes for extra special treats I will by a bag of 'special sweet feed' they love that and would love to eat it year round...
**fresh fruits and veggies outta the garden
**acorns
**bread

the only thing I have found that none of the animals like are onions and green peppers...Our pigs will eat everything else--all around the onions and green peppers....even the birds are not to excited about having those thrown out to them....

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Forgot to add....
The holidays are always special times for our animals when it comes to treats....
Our girls never ever ever eat all the candy they get from Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentines, Birthdays, etc. etc.
So we save up the 'hard candies' for the animals...
Our pigs LOVE the little sweet tart candies, smartees candies, and dumb dumb suckers... Will actually lay on your lap to eat those...
The goats, sheep, cows, horses LOVE candy canes, hard candys, (sometimes I crush up to mix with feed, other times they get them whole...just depends on their attitudes...No one has ever choked or even seemed like they would be close to choking on the candies but I also stay out there with them til it is gone...
The animals also like jelly beans, and candys like them...

Again...these things are only used as treats once in a while...They don't get all these sweets regularly...

 

[RubThyNeighbor]

Mine are so picky. They really havent taken any treats that Ive made or bought lately ;?