What are you feeding your animals?

3 horses get 20 lbs. of feed pellets and 6 flakes of hay. The old guy gets additional chaff hay. They also have pasture 24/7.
25 chickens-fend for themselves, plenty for them still growing and they glean what the goats spill along with the horses.
3 Pigs (AHH)- 4 lbs of alfalfa, oat, BOSS mix a day plus a big bunch of turnips greens and roots, other root veggies, a quart of milk or whey a day occasional kitchen scraps and all the acorns they can eat
Goats- 1 in milk gets 1.5 lbs. oats/alfalfa pellet/Boss mix plus chaff hay, 1 approaching the end of her pregnancy gets 1/2 lb.same mix plus chaff hay, the other 5 split 2 lbs. of the mix and they all share 6 flakes of hay a day and have 8 hours access to browse. Occasional excess garden produce.
Rabbits- large bunch of garden produce, try to change it up a little daily and whole colony of 6 adults and 8 juveniles share 2 lbs. oat/alfalfa/BOSS mix and 1 flake of hay every other day.
Dogs-Deer, rabbit, and other butcher scraps and bones along with a little milk and raw eggs thrown in.
Cats- trimmings from processing deer and livestock, occasional milk and raw eggs and they are expected to hunt for themselves. We feed them very little and we don't have a mouse, rat, mole, chipmunk or squirrel problem.
All animals get free choice minerals appropriate to their species.

We are lucky to grow all year round and much of what I plant in the winter is to feed the livestock. I also plant extra sweet potatoes during the summer to feed livestock some sweet potatoes in the winter.

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as I was reading posts, I noticed that the 2 in my state feed similiar to what we do as well. so feed is very regional plus what you are asking from the animal.

our horses are on grass hay, mineral block. the new filly will get a small amt of a 'grower' feed, right now sweet feed and calf manna. as of yet, she hasn't discovered its good stuff.

hens are getting scraps and layer mix. goats get alf hay and a small amt of the same feed as they get all year long, just not near as much, they are bred (or should be!) bucks get the does' leftover hay. when we had hogs, they got tons of scraps from the lodge and corn. I didn't get hogs this year due to corn prices.

I have some nice browse and am considering getting a few boer does to make meat kids for our freezer. that will depend on what the other feed requirements will be.

My hay guy is quite the artiste. He really understands forage and the timing of getting it just right. Horses get third cutting mixed hay, with alfalfa, orchardgrass, and timothy. No heavy stems, no seed heads, no blooms, no weeds; just tender leafy stuff that costs the moon but all the horses, from youngest to oldest, can clean up every leaf. Since forage is the cornerstone of the diet for horses, I feel high quality hay is the smartest economy. They also get a half cup of oats with some supplements from Advanced Biological Concepts mixed in. Again, the best. I expect my horses to be athletes, so I feed them accordingly. A salt block is a given.

Chickens get certified organic layer mash, and they free range all day. I also cook flax seed and mix it with rolled oats for eye appeal, and often throw in an extra egg or kitchen scraps. They're bursting with health and energy, and have continued to lay well through their first molt.

Dogs get Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish. I know I know, not the swiftest dog food out there. But my GSD has a host of food allergies as well as food intolerances, and this one keeps her from blowing her doors off. When she passes, the other dog will step up to something else.

Barn cats get Meow Mix. I know I know. I tried to switch them over to EVO, but my old matriarch would have none of it. She said that cats eat Meow Mix, and THAT'S. IT!!! Whatever; she's managed to live seventeen years as a barn cat, so she can have whatever she wants.

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We feed our pigs mostly pasture/hay and dairy. They also get some veggies and such. See http://SugarMtnFarm.com/pigs for full details.

We feed our chickens meat in the winter. Pastured pork specifically. In the warm months they eat insects and pasture.

Our dogs eat everyone, er, I meant anything... Well, left over meat, deadstock, predators, pests, etc. You know - Trespassers. See: http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/02/19/feeding-big-dogs/

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Cattle - Hay. 1 bale every other day for 70-ish head. Plus a protein tub and mineral. No forage for me this winter. I could, but I need it to rest. It barely grew after Isaac saved us.

Goats - browse. They also steal hay. I also bought them a large jug of cheez balls from Costco to entertain myself with.

Chickens - 3 scoops of 16% in the evening, 3 scoops of scratch in the morning. Free range, lots of pasture and barnyard. They also get the prime scooby snacks from our kitchen. 74.99 hens and roosters.

Dogs - cat food.
Cats - dog food. No, not intentionally.

Teens - pickles, popcorn, and potato chips.

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Honesty and integrity are homesteading virtues.

Cows - 12 including the bull have only been on pasture and hay for the past 5 years. The grass quality was terrible this year and they hay that I have isn't the best so their condition dropped on me. Wanting to stay away from "grains" my ag extension agent directed me to the local sugar plant. I get 2 ton of wet beet pulp every other week for about $10/ton and put piles out in the winter pasture. This has helped a great deal but it needs to stay cold. If it warms up at all, the pulp likes to get moldy.

Pygmy Goats - 2 range every day so they get the hay and beet pulp with the cows. They also enjoy the pine tree branches and apple branches that I pruned off. They get a scoop of sweet feed every few days along with scraps.

Rabbit - Pellets along with frozen carrots, beet pulp, hay and apple branches.

Chickens - 20 - Forage, scraps, beet pupl and a 50lb bag of feed every other week.

Everyone gets fresh water daily and access to mineral and salt.

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30+ Chickens & Dozen Turkeys: Alfalfa pellets & either Feed Bread, Whole Corn, or Beef Commodity Pellets (BCP) depending on availability or mood.

Goats: Healthy (10) -- Good Hay & loose minerals, occasionally maple branches and pine boughs as available (so long, fair Christmas Tree!); Sick (2) -- Hay & Alfalfa Pellets, BOSS, BCP. I have a doe who fevered and miscarried and a doeling with chronic pneumonia. Both are being fattened to be culled. No nursing Does, yet!!! But, they will receive Hay with Alfalfa, BOSS, & BCP.

Cows: Good Hay & loose minerals. 2 Cows are nursing 6+ mo calves so I'm watching their condition. Thankfully, this has been a mild winter, so far.

5 Pigs: 3lbs Alfalfa Pellets w/ 3-6 lbs of feed bread, whole corn, BCP, or Organic Pig ration depending on availability & mood. Pigs also enjoy free-choice hay that doubles as bedding. When they eat their way down to the ground-level, they get an additional investment of hay -- usually an 18" core from a round bale. Pigs also get kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and chicken carcasses as available.

Why all the Alfalfa Pellets? I can get high protein alfalfa pellets (min 21%) for the same price per pound as chicken crumbles or hog pellets and afford to feed lower quality energy feeds without disrupting my egg supply or slowing my hog growth.

7 Goats - oat hay and alfalfa, produce scraps and bread products and anything else we scrounge up that they may like to eat like Christmas trees or the branches blown out of our trees Mineral block
1 Pony - oat hay with a treat of bread products, produce from time to time Mineral block
2 Donkeys- oat hay with a treat of bread products, produce from time to time. Mineral block
25+ Chickens - cat food, kitchen scraps, squash and bread products
3 Rabbits - rabbit food, alfalfa or oat hay
The above is the cheapest way we have found so far to feed.

Dogs- the maroon Kirkland brand of dog food. Its the only dog food the lab can eat without getting a stomach rash.
Cat- Kirkland cat food.
Parakeet- parakeet food
The goldfish feeds itself in the goat water tub.

I tell the kids my basics of feeding animals. I tell them that almost all animals eat one of two diets.

Group one eats grass and a feed mix of grains and maybe a sweetner etc. These are goats, cows, horses and chickens etc.

Group two eats a feed mix comprised of animals from group one. These are primarily dogs cats etc.

At our place dogs and cats eat the same food, whichever is cheaper. When I get grain feed for the chickens, it is the same generic feed that the goats, horse, mule or anyother group one animal we happen to have around that eats. When I first started raising chickens, I was carefull to ensure that I gave them enough grain. As time went by and during the Molt season when they aren't giving me eggs anyway, I began cutting back on how much I gave them. Amazingly when the eggs began again the chickens actually seemed to do better with less feed. By then I had begun mixing their feed ration with scraps our table, as well as a local bakery. I noticed that though I had started by getting the very old bread and stuff free for the chickens, I eventually had to compete with pig farmers for the old baked stuff. I gather that pigs eat scraps, also. Horses, goats and cows etc. in my opinion, don't do the scrap food nearly as well as chickens and pigs. Because I don't want chickens to start becoming cannibals, we don't feed ours meat products, though any relation between feeding meat to chickens and them eating at each other is a matter of debate around here and in Buffalo where we first started to become interested in raising chickens. As many people claim that there is no relationship between feeding scrap meat to chickens and them eating at each other, as assert that feeding meat is the cause. Some even argue that a small amount of hamburger is good for the chickens, though I don't remember what it supposedly helped. I have found that making the scrap into small peices getts them to eat it all. Goats will pick at their favorite grass and if the opportunity exist will never eat the other grasses. They do not eat much scrap. They will eat some fruit and raw veggies, and they love sweeteners like honey etc. The same applies to most ruminants. While they can get nutritional value from sawdust, they must have more than that if they'll even eat it. I know the whole idea that if you feed them hickory sawdust for a day or two before butchering they might have that BBQ flavor. They don't. (LOL)

That's Bob on animal food. I am not so passionate about what others feed their animals, however. I know that several of you have read about animals my wife use to recieve from people who were in over their heads. That's different. They weren't feeding their animals a less than ideal diet. They were feeding them nothing with concentrated nothing added. That well papered Lamancha that I wrote about how it died on my kitchen floor had been weeks or more without any food at all. The goat had been in a pen that had no grass or anything. This is not the same as someone who also feeds their chicken meat scraps, which I do not, but I have no arguements with people who are not exactly like me. A thread appeared under the poultry page about feeding dog food to chickens. I wouldn't, but considering the folks who starve their animals, I am not about to argue with someone who fed their hens a bag of Cat Chow. I feel that like each of us, most animals are resilent enough to use less then ideal feed, provided they got something, almost anything.

Whodunit, may I ask what the reason for mainaining a fish in the goat water tub? Does it keep the water cleaner or add a nutient? I'm just curious