Best Goat Mineral Feeder 2026: My 10 Picks After a Research Day

A goat mineral feeder is a plastic box screwed to a wall, which is why almost nobody thinks hard about buying one. Then the goats get hold of it.

Straight up: I do not keep goats. I have a Mastiff, barn cats, two rescue rabbits and a desert tortoise, and not one of them has ever pulled a feeder off a fence. So this page is not my animals. It is a full research day on every mineral feeder and block holder worth buying now, plus what goat owners report after a season or ten of use.

What I do bring is the other half. I spent years as a mechanic in a custom off-road shop in Henderson, Nevada, and I look at a feeder the way I looked at a truck part. What is the plastic, what holds it to the wall, and what breaks first.

Here is the short version, and it decided the whole page. The plastic survives goats. The hardware in the box does not. That pattern showed up in the owner reports on five separate products, from five different makers, and no page one guide I read even mentions it.

Part of our goat gear guide.

Quick picks: the best goat mineral feeder for each job

In a hurry? The best goat mineral feeder for most herds is the Little Giant 3.5 quart, because it has two compartments, it takes three lag screws, and owners are still using theirs after ten years of goats. For a fence line rather than a barn wall, the Tiflev three pack is the highest rated thing here. The best value that is not the cheapest is the APRICOCK two pack.

You need	My pick	Why
The best feeder, full stop	Little Giant 3.5 Quart	Two compartments, three lag screws, UV resistant plastic
Minerals and baking soda separated	Little Giant or the Fortiflex	Two compartments so the two never mix
A small pen or two or three goats	Fortiflex 2-Compartment	Under two quarts, flanges top and bottom
A feeder made in the USA	KANE Sheep and Goat	Polyethylene, 5 lb capacity, rolled lip on the front
You feed a salt or mineral block	DQITJ Block Holder	The only block holder here, sized for small blocks
A fence line rather than a wall	Tiflev 3-Pack	Highest rated on this page, hangs on a panel
Best value	APRICOCK 2-Pack	Clips and screws in the box, thickened BPA free plastic
Heavy plastic above all	Chewoof 4-Pack	Owners call them built like a tank
Six stations at once	LOPYXBR 6-Pack	Hanging or floor standing, two ways to set up
A big herd across several pens	Wenqik 10-Pack	Ten troughs, so nobody gets crowded off

How I ranked these goat mineral feeders

A research day means reading every listing word for word, then reading the owner reports at both ends, the five star ones and the one star ones. The one star reviews are where the truth lives on farm gear. Here is what I weighted, in order.

• What holds it to the wall. This is the whole ballgame. A feeder is a box. The bracket, clip or carabiner is the part that fails, and owners say so over and over.
• Compartments. Goat owners and the feed makers say loose minerals and baking soda are offered separately. Two compartments do that in one box without the two mixing.
• The plastic. UV and crack resistance, stated by the maker in those words or not stated at all. Sun destroys cheap plastic in a Nevada summer and I do not take “durable” as an answer.
• Capacity as the maker prints it. Quarts or pounds, in their words. A feeder that is too big becomes a bed, and goats will sleep in anything trough shaped.
• What is actually in the box. Some listings name the screws, hooks and clips they ship. Some say screws not included. That gap costs you a trip to the hardware store.

Best wall mount goat mineral feeders

This is the classic shape and it is what most people are searching for. A moulded box with screw holes, mounted to a barn wall or a fence post at the height you choose. Two compartments if you offer minerals and baking soda separately, one if you do not.

The durability reports are the reason this sits at number one. One owner says their goats have not destroyed it in ten years. Another, who keeps goats and knows exactly what that means, wrote that no goat had been able to tear it off the wall or chew a side off. A horse owner uses it for loose salt and mineral together. It is the feeder people re-buy.

Now the gripe, and it is the page thesis in miniature. One owner says the plastic is strong but the attachments are weak, and his goats tore them off the fence quickly, so he wires it on with baling wire and would buy it again. Another wanted small S hooks in the box and got none. Buy your own lag screws, or wire, and mount it properly the first time. Little Giant also makes a 1 quart version with the same two compartment layout, a pint in each side, if your pen is tiny.

One owner spelled out exactly the job this does. She needs loose minerals, baking soda and free choice supplements, the two compartments keep them separated, and it is strong enough that her goats pushing each other around have not hurt it. She cannot find them in her local farm stores. Another owner runs it for Nigerian Dwarf goats and rates the size for a smaller breed.

Two honest notes. A four star owner docks it a point because you have to unscrew the whole feeder every time you clean it, which is fair and worth knowing before you mount it high. And one clever owner skipped screws entirely, threading wire through the holes and clipping it to the pen wire, so he can raise it as the animal grows without putting holes in his wall.

The trough itself gets no complaints. Owners call it durable and easy to hang, and one simply says the goats use it and it works. The rolled lip is a real feature rather than marketing, because loose mineral flicked out by a goat’s nose is mineral you paid for and swept up.

The mount is the problem, and one owner said it better than I could: the feeder does its job, but the mounting hardware was clearly designed by someone who does not have goats. It is a V shaped bracket you set the feeder into, and his goats made a game of lifting it out and knocking it off the barn wall. Another says flatly that it has to be screwed to the wall or the goats will remove it. A third wanted a lid to stop birds roosting above it and found there is none. Buy it for the trough, plan on your own fasteners, and note the record here is thin next to the Little Giant.

Loose minerals vs block holders

This is the fork in the road and it decides which product you buy. Goat owners and the feed makers overwhelmingly talk about loose minerals for goats, because a goat’s tongue is not built to work a hard block the way a cow’s is. That is their position, not a health claim of mine, and your feed supplier is the right person to settle it for your herd.

What matters here is the hardware. Loose minerals need a box or trough with compartments. A pressed block needs a tray that holds it off the ground and lets water out. They are not interchangeable, and a block dropped into a mineral box turns into a wet lump.

I will say the awkward part first, because you deserve it up front. Four owners have reviewed this. Four. That is not a record, it is an anecdote, and I am including it only because it is the one product here built for the job. Judge it accordingly.

What those owners say is encouraging as far as it goes. One notes it holds the salt in, is sturdy enough, and takes the small blocks that suit goats, while saying openly they are waiting to see how it handles a full year of hot and cold. Another liked getting two, because their two outdoor animals will not share a block. The maker’s own size line asks you to confirm the dimensions before buying, which tells you these are small trays and a big pressed block will not sit in one.

Hanging feeders for a fence line or pen panel

Not everyone has a barn wall. If your goats live behind wire panels, you want a trough that clips to the fence at the height you choose and comes off to clean. The listings for these call them goat feeders and name mineral or grain feeding, and the owner reports are full of goats, so they belong here.

One owner nailed why the size is right, and it is not the reason you would guess. Goats love to sleep in any kind of trough. These are too small to sleep in and big enough for two goats to eat from, which is exactly the window you want. She reports they seem sturdy and the goats have not broken any. Another says they beat a bowl on the ground and stopped her ducks raiding the goats’ feed.

The clips are the part owners praise here rather than curse, which is why this is my fence line pick instead of one of the cheaper multi packs. One warning from an owner worth passing on: chickens will stand on them and foul the contents, and her fix was moving them further from the roost and higher up. Height and position solve most of the mess in a mixed pen.

The maker states this can hang on wire mesh or mount on a fence or wall, and that the plastic is thickened, impact resistant and made to withstand freezing and heat without cracking. A wildlife rehabilitation facility uses them across goats, chickens, ducks and smaller mammals, which is a harder test than most backyards.

Two things to know. The published capacity is 5.5 quarts and some owners say the usable volume feels closer to a quart and a half in practice, so treat the number as the maker’s figure rather than a promise. And the recurring gripe across these multi packs is clip quality, so check the clips on arrival before you trust them to a determined goat. A label that will not peel cleanly is the other small annoyance owners mention.

The best review on this page belongs to this product. An owner compares them to heavy Rubbermaid tanks, says they are not the cheap poultry basins, and adds that they are too heavy even empty to hang on his small hardware cloth. He is pleased anyway. Another, a grandmother of seventy one, bought them so she could feed the goats over the fence without going into the pen after her husband’s surgery. That is the use case nobody writes a spec sheet for.

And once again the clips let it down. One owner who rates the feeders highly says to remove the clips that come with them and throw them in the junk drawer. So budget for your own hardware, and mind that the weight that makes them tough also means light fencing will not carry them.

Feeding a bigger herd

Past a handful of goats, one feeder becomes a queue, and a queue becomes a shoving match where the bottom of the pecking order gets nothing. The answer is more stations rather than a bigger box, which is why these ship in packs of six and ten.

The troughs themselves are fine. One owner hangs them low on the fence and reports the ducks and birds using them happily alongside. The maker gives you two installation routes, screwed to a wall or clipped to fencing, and enough carabiners and ties for both.

The three star review is the one to read, and it is the same story again. The containers work fine, but the hanging hardware was cheap enough to start failing almost immediately, and he swapped in his own carabiners within a couple of days. Another owner’s only complaint is that the troughs are small, which the dimensions above confirm. Buy these for the number of stations, not for the clips.

The maker’s own pitch is the right one: put units across multiple pens to reduce crowding, and separate feed, grit and supplements into different troughs. The height is adjustable as the animals grow, and the one piece moulded body rinses out. One owner keeps it simple and says they are very durable and he uses them to feed his goats.

Then there is the one star, and it is the sharpest version of the whole problem. The carabiners all broke, he tried to upgrade to heavy duty ones, and the holes are too small to take anything larger. He could drill them out, but he bought a simple feeder to be simple. Another owner reports the hooks are weak and will not hold. Two more say the clips work for a while and then need replacing. Order these knowing you are also ordering hardware.

Rain, sun and what cracks

Here is the honest finding of my research day, and it surprised me. Not one feeder in this whole group has a rain cover or a hood. Not the mineral boxes, not the block holder, not one of the hanging troughs. Every guide on page one waves at “weather resistance” and none of them says the plain thing: you buy the cover problem along with the feeder, and you solve it yourself.

Wet minerals cake into a brick. An owner of the KANE feeder gave it three stars purely because it has no lid, since her birds roost on the stall rails above it, and she concluded she would have to make her own cover. That is the normal outcome, not a defect in one product.

What actually works. Mount it under an eave, inside the shelter, or on the wall the weather does not hit. If it has to live outside, a scrap of roofing or a plastic offcut screwed above it as a small roof is the fix owners describe over and over, and it costs nothing. Fill less and refill more often, because a shallow layer that gets eaten in two days never has time to cake.

Drainage is the other half. The Wenqik listing states a sealed base with no hole, which is deliberate, because the same trough is sold to hold water. Great for a waterer, less great for minerals in the rain. If you want a mineral trough that drains, you drill it yourself, low and small, and you accept that fine mineral will trickle out with the water.

Sun is the slower killer. Only two products here state anything about it in the maker’s own words. The Little Giant names UV damage resistance outright, and the APRICOCK states resistance to freezing and heat without cracking. Everything else says “durable”, which is a word, not a specification. In desert sun, untreated plastic goes chalky, then brittle, then it splits at the screw holes. That is where they always let go, at the fastener.

Goat mineral feeder feature check table

Every feeder here against the things that decide the purchase. Scroll sideways on a phone.

n/s = the maker does not say. Every check comes from the listing itself, never from a review. “Hardware included” is a check only when the listing names the screws, hooks or clips in the box, and a cross when it states they are not included. “Capacity stated” prints the maker’s own figure and nothing else. “Holds a block” is a check only when the maker names a salt or mineral block. “UV or crack resistance” is a check only when the listing uses those words, so “durable” earns nothing. “Rain cover” is a cross on every row, which is the point of that column.

How to mount a goat mineral feeder

Every failure on this page is a mounting failure, so this is the section that saves you money. The steps use the makers’ own instructions.

1. Pick the wall before the feeder. A stud, a rail or a fence post beats a sheet of siding. The Little Giant takes three lag screws and the Fortiflex sits on flanges top and bottom, and both want something solid behind them.
2. Buy the fasteners. Little Giant states screws are not included, and so does the 1 quart version. APRICOCK, Chewoof, LOPYXBR and Wenqik all name what ships in the box. Read that line before you order.
3. Assume you will replace the clips. On the multi packs this is not pessimism, it is what owners report on four separate products. Heavy carabiners or bolts, and check the hole size first, because one owner found the holes too small to take anything bigger.
4. Set the height at the animal. Owners describe mounting at the chest of the goats using it, high enough that they cannot stand in it and low enough that they can reach in without stretching. Wenqik states you adjust the height as the animals grow, which is the same idea.
5. Keep it out of the weather and away from perches. Under an eave, inside the shelter, and never directly under a rail birds roost on.
6. Wire is a legitimate answer. Two owners here, on two different feeders, gave up on the supplied tabs and used baling wire or threaded wire through the holes to clip onto pen fencing. One did it so he could raise the feeder without drilling more holes in his wall.
7. Fill shallow, refill often. A thin layer eaten in a day or two never has time to cake, and it makes cleaning a rinse rather than a chisel job.

My top 3 goat mineral feeders

Nine products is a lot to hold in your head. Here is where I would put money.

Notice there is no premium pick. That is deliberate: in this category the two priciest products have the thinnest and most mixed owner records, so paying more here buys you a bigger box and a worse track record, not a better feeder. Notice too that the cheapest feeder on the page, the Fortiflex, is not in my top three either. It is a good small feeder and it is simply outclassed by the Little Giant for a few coins more.

A feeder is one piece of the setup. Our goat gear guide covers the rest, the electric fence for goats guide handles the fence you are about to hang these on, and a sealed feed storage container keeps the minerals dry between the bag and the feeder, which is the half of this problem nobody talks about.

Goat mineral feeder FAQ

What is a goat mineral feeder?

A box, trough or tray mounted off the ground that holds loose minerals or a mineral block where goats can reach them and where the ground cannot foul them. Most are moulded plastic with screw holes or clips, and the better ones have two compartments so you can offer more than one thing at once without them mixing.

Loose minerals or a mineral block?

Goat owners and the feed makers overwhelmingly favour loose minerals for goats, on the grounds that a goat’s tongue is not built to work a hard pressed block the way a cow’s is. That is their position rather than a claim of mine, and your feed supplier or vet is the right person to settle it for your herd. Practically, loose minerals need a compartment feeder and a block needs a holder, and swapping one for the other does not work.

How high should a goat mineral feeder be mounted?

The makers do not print a figure, so treat any number you see online with suspicion. What owners consistently describe is roughly chest height on the goats using it, which is high enough that they cannot climb in or sleep in it and low enough to reach without stretching. One maker here states you should adjust the height as the animals grow, which is the same advice. Kids need it lower than the adults.

Do goats really destroy mineral feeders?

They destroy the mounts, not usually the feeders. Across nine products the plastic bodies hold up well, with one owner reporting ten years of goats failing to break a Little Giant. What fails is the bracket, tab, clip or carabiner. Owners on four separate products here replaced the supplied hardware with their own carabiners, bolts or baling wire, sometimes within days.

How do you keep minerals dry when no feeder has a rain cover?

Not one product in this group ships a cover or hood, so you solve it with placement. Mount it under an eave or inside the shelter, on the side the weather does not hit, and never under a rail birds roost on. If it must sit in the open, owners screw a scrap of roofing or plastic above it as a small roof. Fill shallow and refill often, since minerals eaten in two days never get the chance to cake.

Can one feeder serve a whole herd?

Only a small one. Past a handful of goats a single feeder becomes a queue, and the animal at the bottom of the pecking order loses that queue every time. The answer is more stations rather than a bigger box, which is exactly why these come in packs of two, three, four, six and ten. Spread them around the pen so a bullied goat can eat somewhere else.

Do these feeders work for sheep, horses or chickens?

Mostly yes, and the listings say so. The KANE is sold as a sheep and goat feeder, the Little Giant and Fortiflex both draw horse owners using them for loose salt and minerals, and the hanging troughs are sold for chickens, ducks and pigs as well as goats. The catch in a mixed pen is poultry, which will perch on a low trough and foul it, so hang it higher and away from the roost.