My little doe doesn't like alfalfa pellets?!

mrs.H · #1 01/31/10, 10:34 AM

Hi all,
My Nigerian Dwarf doe wont eat alfalfa pellets. She gets sweet goat feed, bermuda hay, a little chicken scratch (treat) and she steels some of the hens layer pellets. She is due today or next month. The lady I bought her from did not know the breading date. She has dropped a little, and her udder is just starting to come in.

I don't want her getting sick from a lack of calcium, so I guess my question is: How do you get a goat eat something she doesn't want?

I've read all the books at the library and am now reading Just Kidding by Maggie Leman. I also bought a birthing kit from her web site. And one of her little milking machines too.

nehimama · #2 01/31/10, 10:37 AM

Are the alfalfa pellets something new to her? She may just have to get used to them. You might try mixing them in with her regular feed and see if she accepts them that way.

Hope this helps.

mrs.H · #3 01/31/10, 11:08 AM

Thank you so much.

I did try mixing with her feed, but she ate around them. Pellets left every thing else gone. I bet I gave up to soon. She's my first goat. I think I'll just keep putting fresh pellets in each feeding and chucking the ones she didn't eat to the hens (who also don't seem to like them!) My Rabbits don't seem to like them to much either, but they do eat them.

steff bugielski · #4 01/31/10, 12:43 PM

Mine will not eat them until after they kid. And even then they do not really like them.

Backfourty,MI. · #5 01/31/10, 12:52 PM

None of my goats will eat alfafa pellets no matter what brand or store I get them at. I even found some smaller in size & they ended going out to the deer & wild critters.
I know use rabbit pellets in there feed mix in place of alfafa pellets but I do make sure they have lots of alfafa hay all the time.

If you can get it I would give her alfafa hay or even an alfafa mix hay to help with the much needed calcium.

luvzmybabz · #6 01/31/10, 12:57 PM

I have a 8 month old doe that will JUST NOT EAT the pellets I have tried and tried, she loves her grain but will pick out the pellets I tried to mix boss and oats into the pellets and her feed but nope she will pick them out. There is snow on the ground here and fairly cold so I am thinking about trying to soak some in hottish water and see if she will eat them that way. Everyone else scarfssssssss them down.

thaiblue12 · #7 01/31/10, 06:49 PM

I would not allow her to have any chicken scratch and the layer pellets are even worse. Goats have died from eating it and I make sure mine cannot get near that stuff. Even bits over time are not a good thing.

My goats all love alfalfa pellets. Hate beet pulp and won't touch it, funny how fussy they are yet people tell me goats eat anything.
If your doe will not eat the pellets try some alfalfa hay. I stop giving my does grain during the last month of pregnancy because I do not want huge kids and just feed alfalfa pellets and grass hay.

HappyFarmer · #8 01/31/10, 07:30 PM

Mine wouldn't eat them either, bought alphalfa cubes which they loved & slowly switched them over. For extra calcium try giving her a Tums daily, break it up at first if she isn't used to eating hard things out of your hand.
HF

mrs.H · #9 01/31/10, 10:59 PM

Happy Farmer,

TUMS? What kind? I have read this somewhere but forgot until you mentioned it. I think I didn't take it seriously at the time.

I thought I just had a weird goat who wouldn't eat alfalfa pellets.

Why is chicken feed bad for goats. Why is scratch bad. It's cracked corn barley and something else I can't remember because the bag is out in the barn.

Thank you all for your replys!

mrs.H · #10 01/31/10, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thaiblue12

I would not allow her to have any chicken scratch and the layer pellets are even worse. Goats have died from eating it and I make sure mine cannot get near that stuff. Even bits over time are not a good thing.

My goats all love alfalfa pellets. Hate beet pulp and won't touch it, funny how fussy they are yet people tell me goats eat anything.
If your doe will not eat the pellets try some alfalfa hay. I stop giving my does grain during the last month of pregnancy because I do not want huge kids and just feed alfalfa pellets and grass hay.

Thank you so much for the info. I have just finished a quick search on goats and chicken feed. I will take steps in the A.M. to fix the layer pellet stealing. She is such a piggy, just not with alfalfa pellets!

deineria · #11 01/31/10, 11:39 PM

I am not sure what you could do to get her to eat them. Some of mine will, some of them will not.

fishhead · #12 02/01/10, 07:01 AM

Are the pellets dusty? Mine don't like dust of any kind. If you can try a different brand.

Chicken feed is too "hot" for goats and can give them an acid rumen. Too much can kill them. In males it can cause fatal urinary blockage (UC). Also, some people don't like to give animal protein to ruminants.

mrs.H · #13 02/01/10, 10:15 AM

I wrapped the hanging feeder in 2" field fence. The chickens can reach through but my doe can't. Now the goat is mad and the chickens look confused

! I'm sure they will adjust.

HappyFarmer · #14 02/01/10, 05:14 PM

Any flavor will do, mine like both flavored & unflavored. I offer it to my does for extra calcium after kidding, especially the ones who only eat the pellets because they should, not because they want to.
HF

nehimama · #15 02/01/10, 05:43 PM

Dusty alfalfa pellets? I shake 'em around in a plastic colander, and throw the sifted out fines (dust) in the garden or give it to the quail for their dust bath.