How Much Feed Should You Feed Your Animals ??

[Helena]

We have had goats, horses, chickens and various other homesteading animals over the last 30 years but the question I have is...what is really necessary to give to the stock. I know what is recommend but do you need to give your bucks grain everyday..non milking does..etc. With the cost of feed going up...with everything else..and I just can't wait to see what hay prices will be this summer..I am trying to watch the cost without causing any ill harm to my animals in using less feed. Of course, I would give the 2 milking does I have grain and the older doe..any suggestion ??

[pookshollow]

A lot depends on the quality of your hay. I have access to very good hay, so my bucks, dry does and horses do not get grain. They do get free-choice mineral, kelp, salt and DE. My milking does get grain on the milkstand. From now until October/November, my horses get pasture only.

I do want to switch my rabbits over from expensive pellets to good hay supplemented with grain. Have to sit down and figure out what they should get, one of these days. Pellets are easier.

[Patt]

I never fed anything but milking does grain in the summer when there was plenty of browse. Goats in the wild don't eat grain nor did domesticated goats until the past 50-60 years. We give very little feed here and we have very healthy cows, goats, pigs and chickens.

[trixiwick]

I give the goats plenty of hay, and the turkeys get plenty of feed when they are in "growing mode." Other than that, I don't give them all that much. I make a point of getting animals who can pretty well forage and take care of themselves. The ducks and geese are especially independent and need us for very little. I do give a little feed to everyone every day, which helps train them (keeps the chickens and goats very tame, makes the ducks and geese at least check in at dinnertime so I know everyone's okay).

Same thing with the rabbits - they live almost entirely on timothy hay. Greens and pellets are occasional treats and rewards for good behavior.

[Maura]

I also have low needs animals. The ducks and chickens get grain over the winter (corn, oats, wheat, sunflower seeds), but as soon as spring erupts, they eat very little of it. I was giving my sheep and donkeys oats in the winter when the ewes were pregnant, but now they only get it as a treat. If they have good pasture and good hay they don't need grain. If you want more milk from your milk animals, then give them grain, but if they are only nursing their young and not your young, they don't need it.

[willow_girl]

Regardless how much I feed my cows, they always want more!

[mamahen]

Yes, my animals will all tell you they are starving if you start up the tractor or quad! Silly animals!

[RiverPines]

I only give small amounts of grain to milkers, nursers, and pg animals if there isnt free pasture greens available like in winter. And its small amounts of grain.

Other than the above grains...
In summer whatever grows wild is what everyone gets period!

In winter its hay and only hay for feed for goats and sheep.
The chickens and Muscovies get cracked corn and rabbit pellets in winter.

To save money too I no longer buy loose minerals.
I buy the blocks because they are cheaper and I use an ax and hammer and make my own loose minerals.

[Mare Owner]

Feeding pasture and hay is cheaper than feeding grain. If they can maintain a good weight and good health w/o grain, there is no need to give it.

We only grain our mares when they are milking (now!) and our senior (old!) stud gets grain to maintain his weight. The cows are out in a good pasture now so don't get any supplemental feed.

[Otter]

AS long as your youngsters are growing, everyone has good firm flesh, no ribs are sticking out and coats are sleek, your animals are getting enough.

You can tell from just standing at the fence. Does everyone look slick and content? Then they're doing ok and so are you, whatever your feeding them. If they look rough, thin, are apathetic or restlessly wandering their enclosure nosing the ground, if their eyes are dull, then you're doing something wrong and need to fix it now.

[sheepish]

Grazing/browsing animals were not developed naturally to need grain. in the wild, the only grain they would get is the seed heads of the grass they eat. The only reason they need grain is when we push domestic animals to overproduce from what they would naturally do: more offspring, greater amounts of milk, faster growth...

[Otter]

Sheepish and other like-minded individuals;
You are right. Deer don't need grain.

HOWEVER..All domestic livestock has been selectively bred to produce MORE for us. They get bigger. They have more muscle mass. They give more milk. They have more and bigger offspring.

A Holstien cow will give far more milk then any calf can drink REGARDLESS of whether you push her for production or think cows can do fine on grass. She has been bred for generations to give lots of milk and needs the fuel to do so or she will turn into a walking skeleton even on a lush pasture.

I have seen this. It is not pretty.

There are breeds of livestock that have been bred to do fine on grass with only a little supplementation. If you want a grass based operation choose one of those and realize that even then you are going to be spending time and money maintaining and improving your pastures.

I just want to point out that you don't have to "push" Holstien cows, or Large White hogs, or Leghorn hens, etc. etc.
Dozens if not hundreds of years of selective breeding have done the "pushing" for you. You NEED to provide such animals with the proper nutrition, which is Not The Same as proper nutrition for a wild animal or even a more low-maintenance breed, or else it is cruelty. There are domestic animals that can starve in a field full of grass.

Just a note, I am all for a more natural approach to livestock raising. Which is why I want Brazilian rabbits, active foragers like banty chickens, heritage breeds. But my goat gets grain when she's lactating or pregnant, which is basically all the time. She might not finish her ration if she has been stuffing herself on goldenrod, but it is there for her. And it doesn't take her long to strip an area of her favorites, so if I took away her grain because she was getting "enough", well, in a couple of days she's finished it and doesn't have the freedom of a wild grazer to just keep moving. And I only have so much space to rotate. Something to keep in mind.