I hear all the time the same question: Do I need to give my goats baking soda and why? Well the only answer for that is yes! The baking soda adds to their diet in ways that nothing else can. It helps to keep the acid down in the stomachs of the goat, so it’s sort of like an antacid in that respect. It can also help treat bloat if you have a goat that gets into the feed or something else that it shouldn’t.

So how do you give the baking soda to your goats? Well that part is easy. I put in a feeder attached to their fence so that they can get it when they need it. This is called free choice feeding. My understanding is that they will only ingest what they need of it. For this reason, I put in a feeder on the fence right next to their free choice minerals.

This allows the goats to get it when they need it. There should never be a reason to force feed baking soda. Your goats will know when they need it and when they don’t. Because of this, I do not recommend mixing it with their hay or their grain. If they don’t need it, they won’t eat it so it would just be wasting their food anyway.