The Tale Behind Our Fodder Pt. 1

Feeding our goats has been a struggle since we started to rare them. Goats, like we said before, are fussy eaters; we don't know what they want to eat from time to time. Since we started selling goat's milk, we created a healthy diet for our goats. This "diet" has a special name: fodder. So, here's the story of our fodder.......or at least the first part of it.

Napier grass. Different shades of green stacked into messy heaps. If there's something that came before our goats, it would be napier grass. Most of our land in Aman Dusun is covered with napier grass, and they grow relatively fast. The only hard part is harvesting them, and that is not a seasonal thing either. Since they grow so quickly, we have to harvest them every month. It's a hassle and incredibly painful; the sides of napier grass are as sharp as a knife. But before we even began harvesting napier grass, we had to find out if our goats even liked it. What's the point of taking the trouble to harvest something that our goats won't eat? So, what was the verdict? Well, it was complicated. Goats are never simple.

They enjoyed it most of the times. Well, that's what it seemed like. There was only one obvious drawback; they became bloated. Our goats became bloated due to an excess of gas in their digestive systems. Gas can easily accumulate in a goat's rumen (the goat's first stomach), especially after the overconsumption of moist feeds. You've probably made the connection. Yes, napier grass is one of many moist feeds.

So, who cares if they're bloated? Unfortunately, bloated goats could die or fall horribly ill. Our next move was to find out how to solve this problem. Continued in Pt. 2.