Wwyd

I feel for you. We had a hay shortage in this area a couple of years ago due to the CONSTANT rain. I'm sorry you are going through this. We also tried to feed alfalfa pellets, but one goat died from them. They just don't seem to do as well on them as on hay.
I would keep my two favorite does, perhaps a billy if you feel you can, and sell/slaughter the rest. And, if you have any friends that can let you use their billy for new kids next time, I would even sell the billy and keep an extra doe.

A goat DIED from alfalfa pellets?! Wow! How, exactly, did that happen? Bad calcium/phosphorus ratio for an extended period? The constant rain raised humidity and caused the pellets to mold? Curious minds NEED to know!

For mine, if I try to take away the pellets and substitute hay, or even that 8 acres of good browse, I can expect, within two days, a 30-50% drop in milk production. Within two weeks, I can see visible signs of weight loss in my does that are in milk.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

Our goats have always had free choice alfalfa pellets and free choice hay. They all do really well on the pellets. I don't have a place to stare hay and alfalfa. So I by bales of hay and bags of pellets.

__________________
Blog
Trailer

Thank you

CaliannG - thank you for that. It is very interesting, I was doing the maths for what my lot get yesterday, and they get roughly 12lb alfalfa pellets a day, about 6lbs oats a day, and a bale of hay (of which they waste quite a bit, but they always love to see it when it arrives) a day between them. the 12lbs alfalfa pellets means a bag wold last me about 4 days for 10 which would be about right with you bag lasting 7 days for 5. But, when I take them the alfalfa pellets/oats twice a day, they are like locusts, the feed is gone in minutes? I have a funny feeling that if I tipped the whole sack in the trough, they would scoff the lot?

The alfalfa pellets work out cheaper than the hay here too, off the top of my head they are about £8 per sack, and then there's about £2.50 a sack freight on top of that - hay is currently £5.50 a bale and going up fast. My brother has some straw for me for the winter which is going to cost me about £8 per bale too

When the goats were in the stable I free fed their hay - just keptit full and they could eat or not. At the moment their outdoor pen is a temporary one, and I have no way of doing that, they waste enough of the hay as it is. The pellets - like I say, I am just worried they will just scoff the lot the way they go at them. Maybe they reach saturation point LOL

mekasmom - thank you - and sorry to hear about your goat

OBF - how do you find their consumption goes with the free choice?

Thanks again

hoggie

KSALguy - yes, one of them in particular has never produced me anything. The othe ron has only produced me the one buck. The third one did me well, and her two daughters have too, which is why I would consider keeping their sister too

hoggie

She bloated. The vet said since they were so dry, the goats overeat them, can't break them down well, and she just bloated.

She bloated. The vet said since they were so dry, the goats overeat them, can't break them down well, and she just bloated.
I guess some people soak them, but then you have to worry about mold, so we didn't.

ANY sudden change in feed can make goats bloat as their bodies can't adjust to rapid changes.

Alfalfa pellets work well for MANY breeders/milk producers, including me.

I feed about 3 lbs of alfalfa pellets per adult full size goat per day. It's basically free choice, as they have a little left in the feeders at the end of the day.

__________________
Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

I don't free feed anything, like horses they waste too much. I feed whole oats and alfalfa pellets, 1 50 lb bag of pellets a month from the feed store and 10 80 lb bags of oats a yr. from a neighbor farmer, kept in feedroom with the hay. I make my own hay from the meadows, cut with an old hand push cycle mower, let to dry and tromped into the 4'x8' square feedroom. My goat shed is 8'x16', 4'x8' feedroom to left of door, 4'x8' alley/milking stall straight in door and 8'x8' stall to the right of alley. This is loose short hay, 1/2 grass and 1/2 clover. Grain is fed at milking, the dry goat stands in milking stall to eat grain too. Hay twice a day. I don't keep a billy, neighbor has one. My goats are pygora. I milk 3 does, 2 producing 1 dry at any time. Fiber, meat and milk. Baby does are all presold, I butcher the wethers at 8-9 months....James

I have fed over the years all goats, -well over 60 of them- alfalfa pellets with no issues, this includes Nigie kids. The calcuim is important to does in milk and I would have more problems if I did not use it. They have plently of water and it is not a sudden feed change and they are also vaccinated for CD&T.
Any goat can bloat from a change and I would not blame it on the pellets.
Since your already use pellets Hoggie I would not worry about bloat.

Since money/hay shortage is an issue you have to not let emotions play a part in it. You are injured and have not ridden, he is taking up barn space and feed, so the pony goes back home. I am sure the goats would appreciate their barn back before Winter hits.
With 5 left it would cut your feed costs in half and with the extra pony gone it would be quite a bit less.

I would not sell both bucks since it is not easy for you to get them shipped but sell the one and keep Chesnut.
The ones with so many kidding problems would go. They are producing nothing and are taking up feed and space and not giving you kids to sell.
I would keep the 2 good does, their sister, the one buck and the wether. If something hits you down the road then sell the sister and the wether. This set will still be producing and give you kids or milk to sell.

I would not put any in the freezer since it will add little to your meat supply. Sell them off him as a proven buck, and the girls as pets. Even if you get a min of $50 per girl that is money you can use to buy feed for the rest.

Are there any horse people around you? I have gotten hay free or really cheap form horse people when they think it is not good for their horse since it has too many weeds or is a little brown on the outside, etc. Makes me glad I am not a horse person and do not own any with all that fussiness but it sure has benefitted us at times.

I think with the herd cut in half, pellets, leaves, hay here and there when you can get it would ease the cost burden. When I sell goats I put a certain amount aside to pay for the others feed, I do the same with chickens, this way during Winter I do not feel like I got hit hard with a hay bill.

That is a crazy price for straw, is there a way to get wood shavings? I never use them but I know a few who do. Not sure if the goats eat it or not. I would hope not after it had been peed and pooped on. Or maybe leaves can provide some bedding as well. " Hi I am Hoggie from down the road, can I rake your leaves..... for free?" You'll be a hit in the neighborhood.

__________________
You may not copy my posts or pictures without my consent on this board or any other.

Thai has it right...since your goats already get pellets every day, you don't have to worry about a sudden feed change.

To go from measured pellets to free feed, just add a pound extra each day when you feed them. When they start leaving pellets in the feeders a half an hour later, then you know you are at the point where you can just pour them into a feeder and let them eat them as they will.

Mine do not gobble, but then, they are used to having them available. If I were taking goats used to measured amounts up to free fed, I'd do it a little at a time.

I do not soak my pellets...they simply get poured into a chicken feeder that is hung by a rafter in the stall, and the goats eat them as they please. I have not had any problems with bloat.

OMG, 8£ for *straw*?!? Ummm, do you know anyone who has hay that was baled and just sat in the field for a couple of years? It seems to me that that would make better winter bedding than utterly expensive straw. I assume your brother is giving you the family rates. Goats won't eat it if it is on the ground so, unlike horses, you don't have to worry about them getting sick from their bedding. (How well I know this, from the year mine managed to drag two bales of alfalfa off of my low hay rack. They had DEEP bedding that year!)

With pellets, and yours plus your neighbor's fall leaves, you should be okay.

Oh, do you have beet pulp over there? You have to soak it overnight, even for goats, but it also is considered roughage. Ditto for citrus pulp.

__________________
Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck