Feeding pregnant goat

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Our pregnant Nubian is our first goat. We are feeding her a mixture of half a large coffee can of 12% horse sweet feed, half a large coffee can of lamb & kid pellets(its the only feed we can find thats geared towards goats) once a day, all the prairie hay that she wants and a full coffee can of chopped alfalfa three times a day.

Is this enough? Too much?

I have looked for loose minerals(she shares a mineral block with the horses) but I am not sure what kind to get. I looked at the seetlix stuff but the nearest place that carries it is almost a hundred miles from us. We do have an Ochelns close, does anybody have any experiance with their loose minerals?

I would ask the lady we got her from, but all she ever feeds is horse sweet feed and grass hay.

[Jim S.]

You are going about it the expensive wasteful way, but if that's OK with you, fine. It won't hurt the goat, just your wallet.

A late pregnant/early lactating doe needs about 20% protein, but the rest of the time 16% is plenty. They also need around 23-25% TDN (energy). Those figures come from all sources totaled. The excess is peed and pooped on the ground. So you are now feeding, I am guessing about 25-30% protein, and around 60-80% TDN. The excess you are paying for is being shed onto your ground.

You could buy molasses and mix with alfalfa pellets only, then feed plain grass hay too, and hit your targets cheaper, as far as bagged feed goes.

If you are feeding alfalfa, which is high protein and TDN, you don't need to supplement much at all to hit your targets. Early cut alfalfa hay alone can have 16-20 percent protein...all your goat needs. Late cut can have 12-15%...very nearly all it needs, except in late pregnancy/early lactation. Alfalfa hay provides 25-52% TDN, meeting all your goat's energy requirements with no other feed added. You could make a ration that hits the target out of alfalfa hay limit-fed once or twice a day and plain grass hay free choice the rest of the time.

It all depends on costs. A lot of different feedstuffs will deliver the necessary protein and TDN.

Anything you overfeed just hits the dirt, and is money wasted. Most goat owners dramatically overfeed their animals. Hope this helps you in your efforts.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Weigh out 3 pounds of the alfalfa you are offering...is it dehydrated chopped alfalfa (US alfalfa)? A doe who is in the last 50 days of pregnancy needs alot of calcium to grow the kids from the size of puppies to the 8 pounds they will be, plus fill an udder full of colostrum and stay in good calicum levels in her own blood and bones.

Does the maker of your 12% sweet feed make one without the molassas? Energy from molassas is very hard on your does rumen, and is likely also not helping the problems we have with copper from too much iron in it. I feed horse products to my goats because goat products are simply expensive byproduct feeds. Horse products around me are high quality, menued tags that state, corn, oats barley, alfalfa meal etc. She would be much better off on the dry grain mix than anything labeled sheep and goat or anything labeled sweet feed for horses, not only does most molassas just masks inferior products that waste your money, they also make the rumen too acidic. Do they carry your horse quality mineral in a loose mineral? Does don't get enough of anything from blocks. Yoy will want to slowly start increasing her grain until she is eating a little more than a pound for a good size milker, moving up to perhaps 2 pounds served twice a day as she is freshening. The best diet for you dairy goat is good quality alfalfa (which your chopped alfalfa is, we feed alfalfa pellets) some grass hay just for something to nibble on when they can't go out and forage, and good clean fat oats. A good mineral for your area will cover the defficency parts you have, copper? WE also give bo-se pre breeding and prekidding and to our kids at birth...vet script for selenium. Good luck. vicki

[Jcran]

Golly, I just have to say I love reading Jim S. and Vicki M. posts; I learn so much from you folks! Ok, Vicki, oats or barley. 'bout the same? I've gone from goat mixed feed to straight barley, since they're getting alf pellets and some crappalappadingdang shattered alfalfa hay.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

The chopped alfalfa comes in a bag a from the feed store, its called TNT. Unfortunaltly any kind of hay is in short supply around here. We tried alfalfa cubes and they went over like a lead balloon. I can get pelleted alfalfa, but was hesistant to try them because she turned her nose up so thoroughly at the cubes.

Unfotunately there aren't a ton of choices out here food wise. There is a pelleted mare and foal food, would that work better?

We're feeding the sweetfeed because we read that goats need molasses. Is this not true?

Thank you so much for your replies. We are trying to learn as much as possible so we can do right by her. The reason we were giving the grain is because the alfalfa isn't cut and baled alfalfa. Its been all chppoed up pretty fine and put in bags, so I wasn't sure if it was as good as bale.