Newbie getting goats on Thursday....HELP!

[michael]

Hey everyone, first let me thank ALL of you for your advice to others, (I have been lurking for a long time) We are taking the plunge, and getting our goats on Thursday....(after fighting with the DNR, township and county!) However, I am unable to find hay and straw! I have been looking in the local paper and there aren't any ads. Any advice on where to find this stuff before Thursday? Should I have gotten it sooner? It wasn't until yesterday that I was even sure that I would have my fence ready. Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks for being there for me!
Coffee mom

[Minelson]

Welcome! And congratulations! Wisconsin won't be making the first cut of grass hay until the end of June probably. So any hay you find will be from last year so don't buy a lot if you find some....and then buy for the year around the fourth of July. If you want to buy alfalfa wait until the 3rd or 4th cutting so there will be less stems (later in the summer). For right now you can buy shavings for bedding...I personally like that better than straw. And maybe you can contact some horse people to get a few bales to get you through. Or you can try 4H people. I used to live in Wisconsin...what area are you from?

[michael]

Beaver Dam, between Madison and Fond du Lac. Where do you live now? Thanks, that was very helpful, I probably would have bought as much as I could haul right now, just to be done. I will make some calls. How much do I buy for a year?! I will have 2does and 2 bucks. they are mini silkies.

[Minelson]

I live in South Dakota now between Sioux Falls and Sioux City in the middle on nowhere. I was born and raised in the Milwaukee area....Waukesha, New Berlin, East Troy. I am very familiar with Beaver Dam. Very nice area
I don't know what to tell you on how much to buy...I'm a newbie too. I have horses and I always get too much so I feel I'll be covered. Plus I have a lot of contacts if I were to run short and there are hay sales (auctions) every week in 2 different towns real close by. I have 3 goats...Mama is a Pygmy and her twins are half Nigerian Dwarf. Be sure to post pictures of the new goats!

[DixyDoodle]

Call the local feed stores, they usually have a list of people that sell hay. Or you could even stop at a large operation farm and ask if they sell. If they don't, they probably can give you a few names and numbers. You could also post an ad on an online site that gets local traffic, or even advertise in the newspaper.

Try the feed store first though!

[KimM]

http://hayexchange.com/

[mamahen]

I always ask at the local feed store and also the hardware store (lots of farmers there, too!)

As to amounts - 4 goats, are they a small breed? Figure on at least 1/2 bale a day - year round, if you don't have much pasture to support them in the summer. That is for small breeds, I don't know about full sized goats. Usually my bales weigh around 50 lbs.

As for the straw, I also use pine shavings in the summer. But in the winter, I switch to straw (I think it holds the heat a little better) Be prepared for straw to cost MORE than hay!

[Sweet Goats]

Congratulations on the plunge into goats.
Now what I would do is go to your local Craigslist and look under the farm and ranch area. Just go to Craigslist.com and put in you local area.

What kind of goats are you getting?