03/31/08, 07:37 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Western NY
Posts: 43
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Hi there
Greetings,
I have been lurking on this forum for a while now and decided I should start posting. I enjoy reading everyone's posts and gaining new knowledge that can be benefical to my own situation. As for me, I have 11 dairy goats. 5 Nubian does, 4 Lamancha does, and 2 Lamancha wethers. I have 4 Nubians and 3 Lamanchas due starting this coming Sunday. This is my 2nd year with kidding and last year everything went smoothly so I'm hoping that happens again this year. I have had goats now for 2 years and used to work on a family owned dairy farm for over 10 years so I do have experience with animals. I will try to post often and maybe I can even help some of you with a problem you are having or just offer some advice. That brings me to my first question.
I have been feeding grass based hay of good quality to my goats. They are offered free choice Sweetlix minerals, biocarb, and fresh water. For grain, they are given a 16% dairy goat pelleted ration from the feed mill. Last year I had no problems with milk fever or ketosis problems. I know the correct ratio for feeding goats is a 2:1 Calcium to Phosperus ratio. I noticed the Mill has a "High Cal" pellet. The Clacium was like 3.0 -3.4 % Calcium to .5% Phospherous. It was a 16% protein feed. Would this much Calcium be toxic to feed to goats or would adding some of this to the ration be good? I know I should be feeding alfalfa pellets but I simply can't afford to feed them free choice. Hay here for squares of good grass hay is $1.50 - $2.00 a bale. (Thankfully we dont have high hay prices here, otherwise, no more goats). Would you reccomend adding either some amonut of the High Cal pellets to the ration? Or would even a pound of Alfalfa pellets per day be better then none? Which do you think would be better for me to utilize. I just cant afford paying to free feed 3 pounds of alfalfa pellets per head per day when I can get good grass based hay for much cheaper. I'm just worried about my calcium ratio and was looking for suggestions. My animals are in good condition and are healthy. They were on the same feed/hay last year and had no problems at kidding. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say!
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