Hay vs. browse...

[Lada]

Our goats are currently penned and have no access to any grazing in the pen. What we have been doing is turning them loose when we are out in the yard, so about 3 hours a day most days. They are pretty much eating the whole time they are out on our hillside and yard - we let them out in the morning, and again in the evening. Usually they'll just head back to the pen on their own when they are done. I have not been giving them hay except on the days when they don't get out. Is this acceptable, or is there something in the hay that they need even if they are browsing regularly? Or is 3 hours not enough time, and they still need the hay? They are also getting grain - 3 lbs for our milking doe and about 1/2 pound for the dry doe.

I want to keep the cost down as much as I can, but I still want to treat them well!

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

3 pounds of grain is alot of grain unless the doe is a very good milker. Also if a doe is dry here she gets no grain unless she is a growing doeling.

Decrease the amount of grain your doe gets and see if she milks the same, this is called challenge feeding...the feeding of just enough grain to keep them milking the same without loss of condition. If she milks the same than keep that amount less, permanant, and decrease some more.

Also with the addition of alfalfa in some form, hay or pellets, your doe would milk better without as much grain.

Also make sure (and of course if you change anything it should be slowly) that you are talking grain here and not a byproducts pellet full of whatever the mill makes. It's much cheaper to feed the goats real products. 2 or 3 pounds of alfalfa pellets each and perhaps 1 or 2 pounds of oats, it's not only cheaper it's less expensive because with them getting calcium in the form of alfalfa daily you won't ever fight disease of lactation and pregnancy like most will eventually.

My goats eat very little hay this time of year and I would think that they are probably out about the same amount of time yours are, mine can go and come to the woods when they want.

I started like you when we weren't fenced the first couple of years, the girls and I would take a walk during 'reading' time with my children daily, and fed hay when we couldn't get out for our walks.

By putting your focus on their browse/hay and alfalfa hay, clean water and minerals. The focus on grain feeding becomes alot less important. Vicki

[Lada]

Oh...dang...I meant 2 pounds of grain, not 3. Still probably quite a bit, huh? We *are* using a mixed mare and foal feed. Interesting about mixing your own, though. That actually makes a lot more sense and it would be nice to KNOW what's going into them.

Also, do you feed a mineral block? The guy at the feed store said goats shouldn't have a mineral supplement because they are prone to kidney stones. However, I believe he may have very little idea what he's talking about......

[BothFeet]

My goats get very little hay or grain if they have been out browsing all day. Sometimes they browse for 2 or three days, then if I have to pen them again they get hay and grain. This time of year, when I have nothing but dried out weeds and dirt, they are penned all day and live on hay and grain.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

You really want to use a loose mineral. Blocks are formulated for cows tongues. Your goats simply can't get enough of the mineral by licking, and ones soft enough for them to eat usually are high in oils and molassas, neither are things good for the rumen.

A good horse or cattle mineral for your area that has at least 1000ppm of copper is better than anything labeled for sheep and goats. Sheep have very sluggish metabolisims and need very little copper. Vicki