FEED for all?

Originally Posted by CaliannG

I might add that goats also love prickly pear; and if you look at the nutritional value of it, it is 95% TDN! Good food for livestock once the pricks are gone.

My suggestion to you is to start one species at a time if you can, and then grow from there. Get your facilities for rabbits going, then get rabbits. Then give yourself a year with them to learn, and decide if they work for you. Then, start on the next species on your list.

We have a joke in this area that everything can eat #466 from the Co-Op. #466 is the Dairy Lactation Pellet, 18% protein, and it is true. I haven't found a critter yet that won't do well on it. MOST of the time, I buy the species specific feed, but if I am crunched, everything gets #466. However, I do NOT buy more than 2 months worth of feed at a time.

If I was buying a year's worth at a time, I would probably have the Co-Op mix me a blend of oats, barley, and wheat. Anything can eat that, and you can just top dress supplements by species. (Such as adding a cup of BOSS for your dairy goats on the milk stand)

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by alice in tx/mo

with our bugs and humidity, buying a year's worth of feed isn't an option. It would crawl away in three months due to weevils.

Originally Posted by wintrrwolf

I started with chickens 6 pullets to be exact, sex-link cause they are egg laying machines...didn't take me long to get addicted to those little chirps and I then expanded to see what other breeds I liked.
Next was goats (no I didn't wait a year maybe 4 months from when I got my chickies) started with 2 doe's need I say how quickly my herd grew??? Had a few different breeds and then it clicked for me which breed I preferred and I downsized a bit to that breed.
When I started with bunnies it was cali/nZ meat bunnies for some reason that breed and I didn't work out too well I fell into standard / holland lop bunnies and this is working much better for me, they have a decent size so they can be meat but so far they sell much better as pets more money too
I think I did mine all backwards but its worked so far, what I hate is that I have to be real and know what I can keep/support and what has to be sold....

Originally Posted by Clovers_Clan

Interesting you should mention this. I recently read a story about a project, I thought it was through Heifer International, where poor farmers were given goats in a desertified region of central america. The native mesquite had been decimated, cut for firewood. The area had been through years of drought and the land had become unusable. The project concentrated on re-establishing mesquite forest by feeding the goats mesquite beans as a part of their diet and letting the goats roam, dispersing the seeds. The goats were moved in a rotation system that allowed the sprouting mesquite to take hold. And eventually the rangeland biodiversity improved enough to establish grass again, the mesquite improved soil structure and offered shade, conserving moisture. After several years, the system really paid off, the goats became fully sustainable when managed carefully. Apparently the system mimicked the natural effects of deer.

I'm sorry I couldn't find the article. I did find a few interesting articles. Apparently, mesquite is highly demonized in fertile, productive areas. But not enough research has been done on its positive affects on marginal lands.

http://www.angelo.edu/dept/agricultu...quite_seed.php

http://texnat.tamu.edu/library/sympo...quite-ecology/

http://texnat.tamu.edu/library/sympo...brush-ecology/

Originally Posted by Helena

we feed day old bread to our goats, horses, chickens and a small amount to the rabbits too. They love it. Almost addicted to it...the 9 does get around 5 loaves a day and the bucks 2 loaves. Horse one loaf each and the chickens a couple also. they do well with it during the winter but i also give all of them feed in the morning too of course hay at all times. Now when I begin milking the does will get feed 2 times a day. Like anything else..in moderation. I don't feed cakes or sweets to them though. Just plain bread or rolls.