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What Do Goats and Dairy Calves Have In Common?


September 24, 2015 – Modesto, CA

Goats and dairy calves have a lot in common: hooves, fur, barn yards, some will grow horns, but also Modesto Milling’s Goat Feed had origins as feed for calves. Both species have picky taste buds, and tend to grow better when they eat more. So the goal of a highly palatable feed for calves also initially satisfied the same goal for goats.

Modesto Milling approaches all feed formulations with the desire to maintain four attributes: organic ingredients, high nutritional value, quality and palatability. The goat feed formulation scores high on each of the criteria, but as previously mentioned, taste is critical to encouraging consumption especially when goats are growing or used for milking purposes.

Some feed producers use a lot of molasses to entice animals to eat more. Not Modesto Milling. We use combinations of appealing ingredients that add flavor, but not at the cost of health benefits. For example, we incorporate ingredients like corn, peas, wheat millrun, wheat, soybean meal, stabilized rice bran, barley and alfalfa to appeal to the goats. These natural items provide sweetness, variety, protein, fiber and nutrients needed to assist with growth and production. Supplements such as organic herbs, essential oils, Redmond salt and kelp meal further boost health outcomes and the uniqueness of our goat formula.

Even the way the feed is formulated at Modesto Milling is different from other mills. We no longer use canola meal which negatively impacted palatability, nor do we add copper because it can be harmful to sheep. We use soybean meal that we extrude ourselves in our feed. We are the only mill we know of that does this. It allows us to limit GMO risks, control manufacturing quality and know which country the soybeans were sourced from versus introducing imported meal that may be of questionable origin.

The most important thing is that after all of the effort we go through to create a feed that is tasty and full of health benefits, the goats really do like this feed. We have also heard rumors there are still some calves enjoying the goat formulation. We promise not to tell the goats, if you don’t tell them.