Not eating goat pellets

[celadon]

I have not changed my brand and the goat pellets are fresh. I give them (Sandy and Mandy) 1 cup of goat pellets every morning and every night. Witha good alfafa hay. They leave most of there pellets and I have to clean out there feeders and put new in every time. They pick at the pellets when I first put them in and then leave most of it. Go over to there hay and much on it. Do they not need any pellets since they have good hay? When they were growing they loved there pellets. They are now 9 months old. They are nice and fat and have good winter hair. I am not milking them. They are pets. thanks all.

[mpillow]

They'll do fine on lots of good hay---I've fed just hay to bred goats and had twins and trips after a very cold winter (below zero).
Sometimes one of my girls gets fussy on the milk stand but she will eat corn flakes so I mix grain into the flakes. Sunflower seeds might be something else to offer.

[Raftercat5]

Celadon: You might want to check to see if their grain pellets are fresh. If they got damp or wet due to rain and/or high humidity, they will spoil. Smell a handful....if it smells rancid, it is. Throw it away, or put it in your compost pile. They can get very sick if they eat spoiled food, just as you would. If that's not the case, just watch them to see if they're getting enough food. Do they look well-fed? You could try mixing it with a little sweet feed or beet pulp. Good luck with your goats.
- Kathy

[arcticow]

Let 'em do w/out pellets for a day or two & then add a handful at a time. Sounds like they are full enough to be TOO picky.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

You may not have changed thier foods, but each and every time you pick up a new batch of goat pellets at the feed store the mill has changed them. Byproducts feed tags only gurantee you the percentage of protein, fat and roughage...not the ingredients they use to reach those percentages. Likely they changed to a cheaper oil for the winter to make the pellets more pourable...they also change from liquid molassas to dry molasses so sweet feeds don't freeze into cement blocks. Vicki