Rice bran?

Zilli · #21 01/21/13, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosted Mini's

You mainly don't want to go above 5% fat in their total diet, because you are going to start suffocating rumen flora, not good (there are such things called "calcium soaps", which are calcium attached to a fat that you can feed in higher amounts than 5%, but you probably don't want to get involved with that, and I'm sure they don't come cheap anyway). I just KISS and have just the grain part of the diet be 5% fat. Fat helps put weight on because it is the most energy dense nutrient. It has about 2 1/4 times as much energy per gram as carbs or protein (you don't want to use protein for energy, because it is expensive, causes acidosis in higher amounts, makes them excrete more ammonia, and they take energy input to get energy output...kreb's cycle and all that good stuff).

I would not be feeding any concentrates (grain, fats, etc.) at all to a goat for maintenance only. A goat that is not producing (maintenance-only supporting their own body functions) would be one that is dry and not pregnant (or early pregnant).

I only feed grain to the one doe that I am milking - with the exception of my old doe who will be fifteen in a few months and I give her an approximate 60/40 (70/30?) mix of alfalfa pellets and grain once a day - basically alfalfa pellets with a couple handfuls of grain. I have also been giving my 8 1/2 month old doeling alfalfa pellets with a handful of grain just to get her used to a bit of a routine on the milk stand once a day for when she gets bred this fall.

Everyone else just gets alfalfa hay twice a day.

CaliannG · #22 01/21/13, 02:20 AM

~smiles~ Don't worry, Zilli. Doelings are still growing, so they are not "maintenance only", as they are having to put a lot of energy into growing.

Senior does, like other senior critters (including us!) are also not "maintenance only"...they need a higher energy diet to support their aging body.

~grinz~ The only time I *don't* feed grain is if I have a dry doe who is not pregnant or growing. And how often does THAT happen? They dry up about 2 months before they are due to kid, and by then, I need to start feeding them grain to support their pregnancy. Does end up getting grain from the time they can eat it until the time they die...unless I choose not to breed one for a year or so to give her a break AND I am not milking her through.

Wether and bucks, on the other hand, seldom get it. Bucks only during rut, and wether only for a treat or when I am wanting to get them to go someplace they don't want to go...like in the back of the van to be transported somewhere.

Zilli · #23 01/21/13, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliannG

~smiles~ Don't worry, Zilli. Doelings are still growing, so they are not "maintenance only", as they are having to put a lot of energy into growing.

Senior does, like other senior critters (including us!) are also not "maintenance only"...they need a higher energy diet to support their aging body.

~grinz~ The only time I *don't* feed grain is if I have a dry doe who is not pregnant or growing. And how often does THAT happen? They dry up about 2 months before they are due to kid, and by then, I need to start feeding them grain to support their pregnancy. Does end up getting grain from the time they can eat it until the time they die...unless I choose not to breed one for a year or so to give her a break AND I am not milking her through.

Wether and bucks, on the other hand, seldom get it. Bucks only during rut, and wether only for a treat or when I am wanting to get them to go someplace they don't want to go...like in the back of the van to be transported somewhere.

lol

I don't keep bucks (BT, DT) but I do have a number of wethers. One pygmy wether is around twelve or thirteen (I lost track on some of these oldsters) and I would like to supplement him but I am so terrified of UC that I don't (I've never had an issue with UC and I don't want to start now!).

And there is his twin sister and two other senior does (one pygmy and one pygmy/Togg/Nubian/Saanen cross - all in that twelve/thirteen range) that are getting to the point that I think they should be supplemented as well - maybe not this winter, but by next winter for sure.

Kind of hard to work out the dynamics when they're all fed together, though.

Frosted Mini's · #24 01/21/13, 02:45 PM

Thank you, Calliann, I had totally failed to mention growing as a productive stage! I think a lot of goat owners dry up their gals for much longer than they need to, and so, those are the does that don't need grain.

Also, if you are keeping dry yearlings, you certainly don't need to be giving them concentrates past probably about 7-8 months until they are 100 days pregnant as a coming 2-year-old. They would be obese!

My does just get grain in the stand...if kids are in the pen I will make a creep feeding pen that the adults can't get into. Then you don't have to worry about feeding grain to the "wrong" goats.