What do you think about this feed blend?

[Loda Farm]

Ok, I have switched from buying pre packaged feed to feed from our local grain elevator. What do you think about this blend.

Corn 3.75 BU
Oats 5.63 BU
Honor Goat Blend R80 180lbs
Molasses Liquid 30lbs

What are your opionions?

Thanks!
Laura

[Jim S.]

What are your goals? What kind of goats do you have? Are they pampered or production? Are they pets, a hobby or a business? What is the nutritional value of available grass, browse and hay? What are the nutritional needs of your goats? How closely matched is the TOTAL nutritional regiment you offer them to their actual needs (neither above nor below them)? What does it cost you to meet those needs? Can they be met cheaper?

Nutritional requirements of meat and fiber goats:

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/U/UNP-0081/

Energy and protein nutrition of goats:

http://www.tennesseenutritionconfer...5/JohnNiver.pdf

Feed values:

http://beefmagazine.com/images/feedcomptables.pdf

[Terre d'Esprit]

Hi Laura-

Jim asks some excellent questions-- ones that definitely need to be answered before one can determine the appropriateness of your proposed ration.

However, Langston University's Extension has an excellent website of goat resources, and one is a ration calculator. I did a quick run of your numbers. I used the following assumptions about your goats, not knowing what was correct:

Dairy goats, mature (dry does, not pregnant, or wethers), on pretty even pasture. That assumes you are not trying to grow any kids, or you are not milking your animals, or you're not feeding a buck in rut. All of those factors would make a huge difference in what the feed requirements are of your animals.

Having said that, the calculator spat out the following recommendations for a goat ration:

2.28 DM
1.28 TDN
.16 protein
3.26 calcium
2.28 phosphorus

I input your ratio of ingredients into the calculator, and it gave me these values:

2.02 DM
1.6 TDN
.26 percent protein
2.6 g calcium
4.55 g phosphorus

Your protein is very high, I might feed kids or a buck in rut that level of protein, but certainly not a mature doe or wether. Also, the Ca:P ratio is very out of balance. Most folks follow a 2:1 ratio, but there are others on this board who advocate a higher amount of Ca, maybe a 3:1 or even 4:1. But your ratio is backwards. It's more like 1:2. You could offset that with ammonium chloride, but you might be better off adjusting your ration or feeding a complete pellet so that you did not have to mix feed.

If you are interested, you can plug varying values into the Langston calculator yourself. You can find it here:


http://www2.luresext.edu/goats/resea...ionmodule1.htm

Hope this helps.

T

[moonspinner]

Molasses sounds high to me. You don't want a whole lot of this.

[Milk n' Honey]

We put 50# of molasses per 1000# of feed and it isn't wet at all. It worked out really well. If your phosphorus is high, you can add some calcium carbonate but make sure you aren't making up a huge difference with it. You need to shoot for a 2:1 ration on the Ca:P ratio and that will be suffiecient if you are feeding hay with some alfalfa in it which adds a considerable amount of calcium to the diet. The problem is, you are adding corn and oats, both high in phosphorus, to an already, most likely, balanced pelleted feed. You need something with calcium to offset, like alfalfa pallets. Making a balanced ration isn't easy and is pretty important, if you don't want a trainwreck.

[Loda Farm]

I have Boers, with fainters and one pygmy. So basically meat goats. i do not show, although we would like to later. I have 4 buck(lings), and about 20 does.

I decided i want to try to mix my own, it just seems like my goats don't put on weight like I would like. They browse in my woods from morning till evening, and get their grain at night. I do not feed hay right now since they have plenty of browse.

I bought Beet Pulp, BOSS, and oats today. What else should I add to it? What minerals do you all feed? I have tried Goat blcks, which they like, but I hear that is bad for their teeth. They won't touch loose mineral, even when mixed in their feed. Our TSC does not carry much for goats, plenty of Horse supplements though. LOL

Thanks all.
Laura

[Corky]

Goats DON"T need molasses. Think about it.

I feed my lactating does, that get plenty of browse, two part oats, one part barley and 1/4 part Black oil sunflower seeds. They are healthy and shiney and give good milk.

Absolutely NO molasses.