feeding up???

[hoggie]

My BT kidded about 3 weeks ago with triplets. All healthy and VERY lively
But mum has always had "some" weight issues and is now milking off her back.

I have doubled her grain ration, and quadrupled her alfalfa ration (although I wasn't feeding all that much hard feed to begin with) but am worried about increasing it too fast. Obviously she needs more, but I am worried about how quickly I can increase it now. Now she is getting One and a half pounds of grain per day which is equal parts maize, oats and peas. I can't say how much weight of alfalfa she is on as I do that by eye and have increased it the same way. She also has ad lib hay and we get out to graze every day for a while.

Would it be better for her to have a third feed rather than increasing the isze of her other feeds.

She appears to be ravenously hungry - who can blame her feeding triplets - and is always trying to pinch everyone else's food if she can reach it. Before she kidded she was always the one who left her food and would then get it stolen by the others.

She has been wormed, and had a probiotic and bi-carb.

What do I do next to feed her up?

TIA

hoggie

[TennesseeMama23]

I don't have much advice here other than to say I'm with you. It is sooooo hard to feed up milking does-(I think it is impossible for them to gain weight while milking heavily, my goal is just to stop the losing)-they put everything they have into making milk. I have a yearling that is milking so much better than I could have ever imagined. Her bag is huge and her hips just keep getting bonier-we were having to milk 2x a day while she was nursing a month old buckling (we have since cut out the 2nd milking) She still has streams pouring out of her before we get her on the stand. I am adding some extra boss for some fat along with the grain, and beet pulp is supposed to be good (I'm going to start that too as soon as I get some).

[Freeholder]

Hoggie, is she with your other goats, or can you separate her? I would put her on straight alfalfa, with just a little bit of hay for roughage. Increase the amount of grain you are giving her (slowly, maybe half a pound a day).

I just copied off what Fiasco Farm says about feeding does in milk:

Be aware that with dairy goats, their milk production is about 9 to 10 per cent of their body weight, whereas a dairy cow produces 5 to 6 per cent of their body weight daily as milk. To maintain this level of milk production a dairy goat needs to eat between 5 to 7 per cent of her body weight daily; a dairy cow eats up to 4 per cent of her body weight per day. Be award that many times, no matter how much you feed, the doe will get thin. Does will put everything they have into milk production. It takes more out of a doe to make milk than to make babies!

* 2 - 3 pounds of grain per day depending on milk production
* 1 cup of black oil sunflower seeds (if she likes them)
* 2 Tbls Diamond V Yeast Culture
* 1 tsp. Herbal Dietary Supplement
(Note: We let the mothers nurse their kids and we only milk once a day; see milking once a day)
* a cup of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
* Hay: twice a day in winter/ once a day in summer. (How often you will need to feed hay depends on your particular situation)
* Pasture/Browse, minerals and water free choice at all times.


My comments: I think it's an error that they have the black oil sunflower seeds on the list twice. I don't feed my goats that much, more like half a cup, but a cup won't hurt them, it's just expensive stuff! Also, the hay they mention is almost certainly alfalfa hay, which you probably can't get. I don't see any other mention of alfalfa, so I'm sure their hay must be alfalfa.

If you doe can't finish off two or three pounds of grain (plus the BOSS, etc.) in two feedings, then you may need to go to three.

The borrowed doe that I'm milking, a reg. Alpine, came to me extremely thin, and I was concerned about getting weight on her, as, other than my part-meat goats, I'd never been able to get weight on a doe in milk. But she's getting all the good alfalfa hay she can eat, plus about two and a half pounds of COB and a half-cup of BOSS per day, and she is putting some weight on. She's not a heavy milker even for a first-freshener (only about five pounds a day, but I'm only milking once a day), but still, I wasn't too sure I'd be able to put any weight on her.

Kathleen

[hoggie]

TennesseeMama - thanks - it is horrible to see them getting thinner isn't it.

Kathleen - At the moment she is in with the others (but I tie them all when they eat so that I know they get their own food ) I can increase the alfalfa but probably can't go to entirely alfalfa for a couple of weeks until my next order arrives - I will have a count up in the morning and ph one round the horse owners and see if I can borrow any.

I can increase the grain by as much as half a pound a day? Maybe I have been too careful? I give some BOSS, but I have been alternating between BOSS and sunflower oil as I forgot to put it on the order last month. I could probably increase her BOSS and cut someone else's for a couple of weeks if necessary.

I do have Sugar Beet available as well.

Is the "Diamond V yeast culture" like Brewers yeast? Or something different? I can put beer in - they like that

I can't get Alfalfa hay, but get alfalfa chaff and also alfalfa pellets.

Thanks again for the advice

hoggie