Can I Feed Horse Food To Goats??

[cayenne47]

Someone gave me a whole bag of senior horse pellets. Is it safe to feed to goats? If not, the neighbor has horses.

[Milk n' Honey]

I wouldn't switch feeds just to save a bag of horse feed and to answer your question...some people do feed horse feeds to goats but it isn't a good idea. They are not properly formulated for goats. Horses are not ruminants like goats and goats have more copper requirements. Also, I know the Calcium/Phosporus ratio needs to be at least 2:1 for goats. I'm not sure what the horse feeds are. My experience is....don't experiment....if you know what works, use it and don't make many changes that are unneccessary. Goats are funny about change ya know!! LOL!! I'd give the bag to the neighbor. Take care!!

[DQ]

I agree to not make any changes fast, but some brands of senior horse pellets are mostly alfalfa or beet pulp do watch out though for molasses some are very high in it. whatever comes first on the label is what it has the most of. so if molasses is number 2 and has grainproducts as number 1, be more careful, if it has alfalfa as its main ingredient its not as much a potential problem. if I were you I would use it as a top dress. I succesfully fed senior horse pellets in my goat feeding adventures. the only reason I quit was over concerns of the "grain by products" that are usually on the label. most goat feeds have that too. I began using it because the make-up of it was almost identical to that used in the meat goat buck tests at Langston. senior horse feeds are usually very high in fiber which makes them more "safe". hope this helps.

[DQ]

As for horse feeds not containing enough copper for goats, and general comparison, compare these feed tags for n-timidator and a local equine senior product.. calcium ratio is similiar, it has more selenium. protein is close, fiber is a little less in the horse feed, fat is more (I consider it ..the fat, closer to ideal from my research)

http://www.motesclearcreekfarms.com/...-timidator.asp

http://www.stillwatermill.com/Horse%...lverchoice.htm

[Sweet Goats]

I DO feed one of my SENIOR goats horse Senior feed. It is mixed in with her other grain, but YES I do do it. She is 15 and that feed has EVERYTHING that they need. But tlike I said I mix it with her goat grain.

[Scrounger]

If it the alfalfa kind, I would just mix it in a little at a time.