Feeding hay

[celadon]

I made some hay feeders for my boys out of plastic garbage pails. It seems to work very good but they do not eat all of the hay. Do I throw the hay away every feeding and give them fresh? I fed my other two goats on the ground but read not to do that. thanks, Andrea

[TSYORK]

No, don't throw the hay away; they'll clean it up when they come around for a snack. Hay's too expensive and labor intensive to be wasting!

[Bearfootfarm]

It seems to work very good but they do not eat all of the hay.

Cut back on the amount until they eat it all, unless it's their main source of food, in which case the feeders should be kept full all the time

[Ernie]

Goats are notorious hay wasters. Don't let them do that any more than you have to.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Mine like to pick out the stuff they want & leave what they don't like as well. Sometimes I'll turn it over & they go through it that way but they are a very picky animal. I also give what they don't want to the rabbits. If you have other animals alot of the time they'll eat there leftovers.
I think they are just picky animals & then we spoil them.

[woodsman]

There are hay rack designs that incorporate a tray catching the hay that otherwise would fall on the ground. This way the goats are more likely to eat it. In any case you can pick up all the clean stuff before it gets stomped and pooped on and use it as litter/nesting material.