# Does rice bran work as a weight gainer? YES. photos



## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

hi everyone! i saw a few post about people trying to gain weight to there goats and i knew i should post a new thread about this! and here is a short story on why!

A few months ago i bought a doe online had her bred then went to go pick her up. the photo i saw online turned out to be a Older photo. because when i got there the doe was Very skinny! this breeder LOVED all her goats. there was no lack of care here...she even said she has tried many things, but nothing worked!well after a few weeks she was dewormed and checked out healthy i tried rich hay,extra sweet feed,more supplements, beet pulp, Nothing was working and she was eating anything i put in front of her! not even putting a dent into it!!! she was 95 POUNDS! so i tried "rice bran pellet" now you can get this in TSC comes in a red bag for horses and pay a arm and a leg for it. 40 pounds is roughly $34 dollars...Now stay with me here folks!  with one bag she became 115 pounds! Now we are working on bag number 2, we are half way done...i have yet to weight her. but she is looking great and is going to kid July 11th, big improvement for only having her for almost 5 months!

the week i got sandy 








this morning! (she was just shaved the other day so you can really see everything!) 








*6/17/2013*- After re-reading what i posted, let me be clear. At any point did i ever give her JUST the rice bran. it was mixed in with "daily feed" i wouldn't recommend only rice bran since its in no way a complete feed but a weight gain supplement. my daily mix for all my goats is only given on a milking stand so i know just how much everyone gets.

on the milking stand
1 quart (Dumor Goat Sweet Formula Feed)
2 hand fulls of boss (black oil sun flower seed)
1 oz scoop of "manna pro goat balancer" 
(1 quart +/- alfalfa pellets: they only get this every few feedings)
(i add in the rice bran starting from a cup and slowly working it up)

in the morning they have choice of coastal hay or peanut hay. 24/7 they have choice of minerals,baking sofa, and salt block.

*Again i would not use just rice bran as a complete feed!*

please use at your own risk, many others say it can kill your goats, i had NO problems but i took it slow and watched for any problems, i also use extra care when meeting all feed requirements..(do not just give your goats a whole bag of rice bran at once because you saw this post!) ​


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

wow! impressive!! I read somewhere that rice bran is acidic and can make them sick. how much rice bran did you give her? I have access to rice bran (the flakes, not the pelleted stuff), but didn't want to add it to their food b/c of that.


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

when i was looking it up i found it pretty much 50/50....Some owners swear its bad and can kill them others said its fine....however i noticed with owners who used it said the goats only tend to take the pellet and hate the flake/mash..(sandy took the pellet no problem when many people said goats don't normally like rice bran in general)..when i started i used a cup and worked my way up. Why did a take the risk??? at 95 pounds and due to kid in 5 months. i needed to do something!....she never got sick. never showed any kind of signs...always ate it with no problems. i have Only used the manna pro rice bran pellet.


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

interesting! my doe looks pretty underweight, but she's in milk. not as bad as the top pic... my other doe was really skinny earlier this year, but she's a good size now. will keep rice bran pellets in mind for future, or if anyone i meet has a skinny goat. it's quite easy to get down here, and cheap. wonder if they'll eat it if you make it into a warm mash like oatmeal?


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

i know when i looked into it...people had mixed it with molasses...now i have another new doe coming in a few weeks that will need rice bran...so i will Document everything! see if there is some truth behind if rice bran is truly a killer or did i get lucky? i honestly had No problems what so ever...so i feel like i can try this with my new doe when she gets here...i will track weight and feeding program!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow, she looks great!


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## nchen7 (Feb 25, 2013)

keeponfarming said:


> i know when i looked into it...people had mixed it with molasses...now i have another new doe coming in a few weeks that will need rice bran...so i will Document everything! see if there is some truth behind if rice bran is truly a killer or did i get lucky? i honestly had No problems what so ever...so i feel like i can try this with my new doe when she gets here...i will track weight and feeding program!


ooh...yes!! please do!!!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Amazing! I hope she continues on this road and gives you healthy happy kids too


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

Just weighed her, she is 130 pounds!


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## Pixie13 (Mar 2, 2013)

Wow! Nice job with her. Thanks for sharing your story.


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## imthegrt1 (Jan 13, 2013)

Sounds great for putting on weight if works and no problems..,but at .75 a pound ouch that would hurt the pockets.do you think it was the rise or do you think just cause she was longer in her bred cycle she gained that much weight ..


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

My mom fed Rice Bran to her OLD Thouroughbred horse when we got him. He was skin and bones. Worked wonders!


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I feed rice bran meal as a top dress to my goats. I aim for 5% fat in their diet and use rice bran meal as the fat source. Yup, it helps keep weight on without the chance of founder.

I pay 24.00 for 40 pounds of the meal at TSC. Mine LOVE the rice bran meal and will lick it out of the bucket or their feeder on the milk stand.

The only problem with rice bran, or any oil, is that over 5% fat in the diet, the fat kills the gut bacteria and can cause problems with digestion and Vit B being made in the stomach. I know a lot of big, successful, long tome goat farms who feed ti, have for years and never had a problem as long as they stayed at 5% or under.


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## BoerKikoLady (Nov 2, 2010)

Wow Thanks for sharing. I have used it with great success with TB horses. Never even thought to try it on the goats.


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## Tara_Bishop (Jun 13, 2013)

Can you give this rice bran to kids and mommas that are nursing? Im looking for something to help keep the weight up on my mommas as they are nursing there babies.


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

I really do believe it's the rice bran even when she was 95 pounds the baby can't be more then a extra 10 pounds, if it was her belly would have filled out but the rest of her would be boney and the previous owner even said she has always been that skinny (pregnant or not)


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

Tara_Bishop said:


> Can you give this rice bran to kids and mommas that are nursing? Im looking for something to help keep the weight up on my mommas as they are nursing there babies.


Am not sure, like I said I never had a problem but I started with very little mixed into the feed (I have fed it to my youngest 5 month old as a great she loves it), when I first got sandy she was also some what in milk (maybe a quart?) I wanted to dry her up because she was so skinny I didn't want her to burn any calories I did notice a increase milk production almost a half gallon?, no I have no proof that the rice bran worked but it just seemed very surprising... this new good I'm getting a few weeks will have the rice bran and I will be documenting it. She is also bred.


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## AmyBoogie (May 20, 2013)

What a HUGE improvement!!! She's so pretty now!


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## Goober (Aug 21, 2009)

Just wanted to add, for someone reading this thread who might not know: Be careful on the Ca with the rice bran. Bran is VERY high in phosphorous, low in calcium. Often, calcium in added to help balance it, but goats need a different ratio, so additional calcium (like alfalfa) may be needed, particularly if someone were feeding it to a buck or wether. Just check the bag and make sure you get it right.


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## keeponfarming (Jun 12, 2013)

Please note: after reading my post it may have sounded like that's all i fed her, this isn't true! and i wouldn't recommend it! please read below photo, to see what i feed.


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## ZiggyNC (Apr 16, 2013)

Rice bran works very well. The other thing I would recommend as an alternative is to use a little rice bran oil poured over their usual ration.


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## goatgirlpwr (Oct 20, 2012)

Would this help my boer whether gain weight for my 4-h show?? he is 35# and needs to be 45+ #'s


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## MoKa-Farms (Jun 19, 2013)

Amazing! She's improved so much!


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