new to goats

[au natural]

Hi. I recently got two little la mancha doelings. I understand that they need good hay and fresh water daily, but I am wondering how much hay to give them. Also, should I be giving them grain? If so, what kind and how much? Can anyone recommend a good book for taking care of goats? Thanks

[BlueHeronFarm]

Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy goats is a good one.

We leave hay out all the time - "free choice" so the goats can eat when they are hungry.

You will not need to feed grain while they are dry - but you can. Up to you.

I highly recommend buying the book and then reading all the posts you can handle in this forum. There are very few hard and fast rules to goat care, so you will have to read up and make decisions based on what you find and what you want to accomplish with yout goats.

[Sweet Goats]

First of all, Congratulations on your new purchase. I promise you, you will not be sorry. Goats are great.
How old are they? Like BlueHeronFarm said, Hay free choice unless they have grazing area. Some always have hay free choice, but in the summer right now I have so much pasture that they can not keep it down, so I am not going to pay for hay at $8.00-$12.00 a blae if I do not need to. now that is totally different if they are milking. Also when I ween my babies, I leave grain out for them also.
Do you have pictures of them to show us?

[Feral Nature]

Don't give them grain. Give them all the alfalfa pellets they can eat, free choice...those can be fed all they can eat. They really need the calcium to build bone and size. The alflafa pellets are made of condensed alflafa hay and they won't bloat on them. Start slowly with them though as you do with any feed and work up to all they want. Put them out fresh though as goats will turn their noses up sometimes at "old" food. Get the small pellets, not the big cubes.

We use the alfalfa pellets down here in texas because the alfalfa hay here is a joke.

After your doelings are bred, you will need to grain them towards the end of pregnancy and while they are in milk. But for now, just get some size on them. Don't forget about worming, cocci treatment and hoove care. Have fun!

[au natural]

Thanks for the info. These girls have stolen my heart! They are so much fun! They are almost 13 weeks old. They were just weaned off the bottle on Sun. They have been eating hay(I don't know what kind) and some kind of grain with molasses in it.
Alfalfa pellets...are they the same pellets that you feed to rabbits? Are they any better than hay?
Hay...how do you tell what is good hay? Is the first cutting ok for goats?
Worming...when do you need to do this and how often? How do you tell if they are wormy?
I don't know how to post pictures. Thanks