Mixing goat feed

TheLands · #1 02/02/10, 12:51 PM

I am working on figuring out how to mix my own feed. Do any of you mix your feed? If so, what do you use?

Thanks in advance.

madness · #2 02/02/10, 02:09 PM

There are a couple of threads on here with recipes - everyone does it different! Especially for the goat's purpose, you will need different things. I'm not sure if you've mentioned before what kind - milk, meat, pet, etc - of goats you have.

By the way, if you want custom feed but don't want to be bothered mixing it yourself, you are quite close to Coyote Creek and they will do batches for. I can't remember what the smallest size was...maybe 1000 lbs though! But for a decent sized milking herd, you could easily go through that before it goes bad.

TheLands · #3 02/02/10, 02:33 PM

Thanks a lot.

I must have missed the other threads. Will look again.

I have pet/milk goats. I have three Lamanchas and 4 ND/Spanish mixes. Gonna grow my herd more soon.

I will check out Coyote Creek. I forgot about them. We do most of our shopping at Callahan's and I just found out they carry the mills feeds. Yay!!

Alice In TX/MO · #4 02/02/10, 02:38 PM

Just remember that they do NOT need much grain unless you are milking them. I feed MUCH LESS grain than I did when we started three years ago.

TheLands · #5 02/02/10, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Just remember that they do NOT need much grain unless you are milking them. I feed MUCH LESS grain than I did when we started three years ago.

How much should I be feeding them? I haven't been giving them grain daily. Usually every other. I have 2 Lamanchas under 1 year, 1 Lamancha wether, and 4 ND/Spanish crosses that are 3-6 years.

madness · #6 02/02/10, 02:59 PM

The breeder we got our dairy goats from uses a 50/50 mix of oats and barley with a few other things thrown in. For a batch with 50 lb bags (50 lbs each - 100 lb batch), she adds 5 lb beet pulp, 5 lb BOSS and a cup of brewer's yeast. We've looked into other recipes but haven't done enough research to really know what we are up to!

As far as amounts, for dry does in good condition, we give a cup a day. For lactating, it depends on how much they are producing - could be several pounds a day. For pregnant dry does it's a pound (I think....geez, I just remember where to fill on the scoop!).

saanengirl · #7 02/04/10, 06:21 PM

Unless you have a large herd or are trying to go organic, it is probably more practical for you to buy pre-mixed feed. I have done some ration development for research purposes, but with the size of herd I have now, I know that my feed mill can make feed with more cost-efficiency than I can, and they carry a ration that I like.