Sweet feed for cold weather???

[holleegee]

I have two fainting goats that are pets. The only thing I feed them is hay and minerals. My mother in law also has goats (she has had them for years) and said I should be feeding my goats sweet feed because we are having really bad weather (-10) My goats have a heated water bowl, shelter and all the hay they want. I have read about bloat and don't want to change their diet. My goats are both does, around 2 years old should I do anything differently?

[mygoat]

I personally give a little grain in the winter, but if your does are just pets, there's no need. A goat will get all the warmth they need just from thier rumen functioning normally while it's full... that's the hay, lol.

[Blue Oak Ranch]

Goats are really just big compost piles in the middle - the more roughage (hay, even straw), the more the rumen bacteria work and make heat. Ever stick your hand in the middle of a nice compost pile? Steamy.

Grain, especially too much grain, can change the pH of the rumen and lower body temp.

My girls get alfalfa pellets free choice, so when it's going to rain or get cold, they get a nice fresh pile of straw. Grain only in milk or in late pregnancy (but then again, mine are Nubians and already prone to chunkiness ).

Cheers!

Katherine

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

The idea is that your goats need some energy to burn to keep warm, so since oats and corn are high in energy and are fed to horses, pigs etc...doesn't it make sense that a nice bucket of wet cob would be great for your goats? Goats can turn the old stemmy cellulous in hay and straw into sugar energy, so no, if your goats are pets, unbred and unmilking good hay, minerals for your area, some warm water, a warm place to snuggle into to is perfect for them. If you do end up wanting to add some grain, do it very very slowly, no more than a small handful a day and add to that slowly. Takes a whole different set of rumen bacteria to eat up grain than they have right now on a roughage diet. Change is not a good thing for goats. Vicki

[AnnaS]

All of the above!

We get some pretty cold weather here too. I cut grain back on cold days, bring out hot water at least twice a day, and feed unlimited hay. Think of the rumen as a woodstove- sweet feed is like paper, a short burst of heat, and hay is the wood, heating for hours.

As long as your goats aren't shivering, they will be fine. Shivering goats should be given hot water (at least 110 degrees) and coated if the water doesn't stop shivering.