I also grew sunflowers for the goats. I harvested the whole heads and froze them stacked and whole. I had chest freezers to hold the 3 gallon buckets of milk frozen for my milk contract that weren't used during the winter. I would take a few out each day, defrost them and simply crumble them in the feeders, not actually picking out the seeds, the girls loved them. Those not in the humid south could cut them with some stalk and hang them in the rafters...here they molded.
I will always buy BOSS to feed to my kids I am keeping, the scartch factor of the seeds is well known for keeping entero at bay and since my kids are pushed for growth, it's important for my herd.
My sales are alot about
PR here with the ah-la-natural group. Things that are cheaper here, cottonseed meal and hulls, some even soy....dictate what you can and you can't put into your goats for more milk or meat. I choose not to sell my milk to a third party who then resells it or makes it into cheese, and in doing this, dealing with the public myself, you have to eaisly answer nutrition and health related questions....and since I know myself the pesticide issues of cottonseed I can't feed it or use the oil. I do use Sunflower Oil because it is the main ingredient in my soap and I purchase it in bulk in 33 gallon barrels. But the cheap soybean oil (most 100% veggy oil labels are soybean oil) is a great alternative.
Obviously in pet or meat goat herds, fat feeding isn't really an issue, we shave our does down, without fat in the diet they have no slick to their skin, I also only feed oats on the milkstand to my milkers, so adding the oil or Boss (which I interchange all the time) is an added fat they need. Vicki
