Feed quesion for pygmy does

[NChemungGuy]

I am currently feeding my three pygmy does Blue Seal Caprine Challenger. I was thinking of mixing this with Blue Seal Rabbit pellets for the alfalfa content, and it is probably cheaper. they are non bred, non lactating, and around a year old. They also get their daily ration of timothy hay. Any input ? Is this ok or should I do something different ?

Chris

[Lizzieag]

Everybody feeds a little differently and you will get many opinions. Personally, I don't feed any grain to my non-pregnant, non-lactating animals. They get a 50-50 mix of alfalfa/grass hay. I raise Nigerians, so they are pretty similar in size. In my experience pygmies tend to get overweight quicker than Nigerians, so I would really watch for that. Just hay is probably fine for them, but small amounts of grain won't hurt as long as they aren't getting overweight. I wouldn't mix with the rabbit pellets, the hay is good enough for non-productive animals.

I look forward to others opinions

[mygoat]

Grain will do nothing for your non pregnant, non lactating does but put extra weight on them. Then when/if you do breed them, it will cause kidding problems (something pygmy does are really known for already) Honestly all they would need is a good hay, loose minerals, baking soda, pasture, and water. I only feed my mini does grain while flushing them pre breeding, 1 cup each. (My mix is 6 parts purina chow, 3 parts alfalfa pellets, 1 part BOSS and 1 part shredded beet pulp, designed for dairy goats) They also get 1 cup grain per day starting 2 weeks pre duedate, and 2 weeks post kidding. Other than that, no grain.

The alfalfa in the mix is needed for the higher calcium, which is really only for lactation.

I wouldn't feed rabbit pellets as I doubt it's cheaper and it probably has stuff in there that is improper for goats... though I'm not really sure.

[NChemungGuy]

Thanks for the replies. The girls don't get a whole lot of grain right now, just a couple scoops per day. The have a good deal of area to browse some, but I'm looking ahead to when the snow flies, and what I can do to give them the best diet to see them through it. The only real recommendation I read was increase the hay which generates body heat from the rumination prcess. So I would love any further input you folks have.

One other question while I am here, when you feed BOSS, do you feed it whole or shelled ?

Thanks !

Chris

[mygoat]

BOSS is fed whole, just get the bigger bags (25 or 50 lbs) of the bird seed, it's cheaper to get the bigger bags (at least at my feed store) It lasts quite a while at the rate I use it.

Through the winter, your does will do just fine if you up the hay intake or allow them free access, no grain necessary.

[fcnubian]

It also depends on how good your hay is to. The hay I was feeding wasnt as good as I liked but we took what we could find so we did have a few goat drop weight. Right now I have 5 goats in one pen 3 are pregnant does. They get grass hay and alfalfa pellets. If your does do just find on just hay then no need to add the extra cost to grain them to.