As I began setting aside garden areas to grow fodder crops for goats, I realized that I needed to do some math. I'm starting to get a handle on how much supplemental feed Abigail needs to stay in good shape while pregnant, and I assume she'll need a similar ration while milking. So, based on that data, how much space would it take to grow the supplemental feed for one small milk goat during the six-month cold season?

Abigail didn't seem to need much other than hay during the beginning of the winter while her pregnancy was in its early stages, so I figure a sixth of a head of sunflowers and a carrot per day would provide the bulk of her ration during that time. In addition, I've been matching her carrot ration with a similar amount of butternut squash or sweet potatoes lately, figuring that variety is good for our goat's health, and I'll include mangels in that extras list next winter. For the sake of easy math, I then doubled that ration for the late pregnancy and early milking months, resulting in the feed amounts listed below:

Next, the question becomes, how much space would I need to grow that much feed? Using low-ball figures on yield for each of our 5-foot-by-3-foot beds (better safe than sorry), I came up with:

That's really not much space at all to provide a goat all of her feed except hay! Of course, by this time next year, Artemesia will be pregnant too, so we'll need to double those numbers. And we might also need to add on some supplemental feed for the summer months, so I'll triple the chart's estimates to be on the safe side. Still, considering that I plant nearly ten times that much area for me and Mark, a few extra beds of butternuts tucked away in a corner shouldn't be too much skin off my teeth, especially since all except the carrots (and possibly mangels) are on my ultra-easy-to-grow list.