HELP! Goat feed ? protien content, will this hurt them?

[lettermom]

We have milking does. They are used to having (before we bought them) Kent 18 % protien all purpose feed, but the only feed we have found so far in our town is 12% sweet feed Is this going to hurt their tummies?

[Backfourty,MI.]

I don't milk my doe's & I'm sure there will be others that will chime in to help you but I always thought Sweet feed(like for horses) was a big NO NO for goats. I think most of us here mix up there own type feed. I use rolled oats, rolled barley, alfafa pellets, and BOSS. But the Boss is getting so exspensive I don't put alot of that in the mix. Someone with more experience with the milkers I'm sure will jump in to give you there mix.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Ditto on what the previous poster said.

No sweet feed.

Oats, alfalfa (pellets and/or hay) and Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS)

Good high copper minerals

[nubiansinny]

Any change in feed can cause tummy trouble. Do it slowly by mixing it together.
As for the sweet feed thing, It's a personal preferince thing, it wont Kill them
As with any concentrate, it should be a small part of their diet.Hay and /or alfalfa, and browse should be most of it. I leave out baking soda free choice and loose minerals.
I think all this mixing of your feed should be left to the most experieced.
That is not me
Keep it simple and find out what works for you.

[momtoseven]

Newbie here =0). 16% sweet feed is all that is available for us here, as well. We have alpines and the breeder we bought from fed sweet feed, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, and BOSS, so we feed our girls per her instructions. She has a show quality herd and a wall full of ribbons to prove it, so I figured she knew what she was doing, lol. We offer free choice baking soda and loose minerals and dust their grain with Diamond V yeast culture, and of course, let them have all the good quality hay and browse they want.

They are doing well on this- one doe is feeding kids (2 weeks old) and milking 4+ pounds a day and I haven't separated her from her kids at night yet, so I'm just sort of emptying her out morning and evening. My second freshener is not feeding kids and milking 9+ pounds and she seems to be producing more and more every day (she's about a month past kidding.) If the molasses in the sweet feed isn't hurting them now, is there a problem with using it? I'm not against mixing my own feed, but I wonder how long it would take to gradually switch them over and if it is worth the trouble since they're doing okay now.

(This is our second herd of dairy goats; we had reg. saanens a few years back and the breeder we bought them from used sweet feed as well. We fed our first milkers with it, too, so it may just be that that is what is available in our area. I have to order in our goat minerals and yeast culture.)

Leighanne
P.S. I have been lurking here for a long time and have learned so much. This is a wonderful forum!

[lettermom]

We are out of the Kent 18% feed so I can't mix it (i know really dumb of me, but i thought it wouldn't be too hard to find, now i feel like a bad goat mama!) regular baking soda? we have a mineral block in their stall. Is that not as good as loose minerals? (loose minerals are the ones in a bag right?)

where do you get all that stuff to mix your own feed?

thanks for putting up with all of my questions!

[Goat Servant]

You can get a bag of baking soda, known as Sodium Bicarbonate at your feed store alot cheaper than buying boxes and boxes of arm&hammer.

We use loose minerals. You are right, they are in a bag.

Momtoseven, if what you are doing works, especially with goats your breeder has success with, why change it unless you have to? I have pretty much followed my own breeders instructions as well, with the exception of adding a handful of BOSS to each serving and a little Diamond Yeast as well.

[Christiaan]

I feed a cattle dairy 14% ration from the local feed mill. It is 2% more protein and $4 per 50lb cheaper than goat ration.

[Scrounger]

I have been using Purina Omalene 300 Horse feed for some time now. I mix it with whole corn, alfalfa pellets, and BOSS. They also get minerals and soda free choice. They are doing really great on it.