Feeding my wether???

[melco]

Hi everyone, well we are a couple of months into our new lives with goats and honestly just loving it. I wish we had done this years ago. We started out with horses and although we really enjoyed them, we love our goats. Anyway, I never dreamed I would keep anyone other than a dairy girl, you know if you arent producing something for me you are outta here....HAH!!! Boy, was I wrong. We have fallen in love with one of our little men and well we are keeping him. He has been wethered and already part of the family. My son keeps saying can we house train him? Umm, well I think so but NO. HAHA Anyway, I have read many different things on how to feed "the guys" but being new and the info seems contradictory at times, I feel I could get a better feel of what to do here from you guys. Please include anything you think is important when feeding/caring for a wether including what NOT to feed. Thanks again, love this forum.

[Alice In TX/MO]

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/stones.htm

There's the detailed info at Fiasco Farm. I feed my bucks half alfalfa pellets, half medicated feed, top dress with ammonium chloride a couple of times a week.
They get grass hay and browse.

[Backfourty,MI.]

My boys get grass/alfafa mix hay, browse from the pasture, medicated pellets that have Ammonium chloride in it & I also mix Ammonium chloride in with their Right Now Onyx mineral.

[FunnyRiverFarm]

Alfalfa hay and browse in the summer, Alfalfa/grass mix hay in the winter, loose minerals, and not much else. I know some people say that alfalfa is bad for wethers and causes urinary calculi but I have found the exact opposite to be true...wethers that are fed only grass hay and/or too much grain are usually the ones that end up with pee pee trouble.

Wethers usually do not need grain and certainly not daily grain. I have a wether that is cart trained and he gets a small amount of grain only when he's been working hard...or when I need to get him into the truck

As you are finding out, they are very hard not to fall in love with

[melco]

Thanks for the responses. I had the Fiasco Farms link and I do forget about it. Need to remember to go there. I am on a big cow area and bermuda or fescue are the hay of choice around here it seems. I bought some alfalfa cubes but think I will buy the pellets next time. Are the pellets an ok replacemant for hay? My goats have about 1-2 hours a day on grass, grass hay and minerals, the does get the grain, if I gave my wether alfalfa pellets when we milk (so he doesnt feel left out) would that be ok for him? If so, how much would you give him? Also, for the record, they have fresh water always.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Alfafa hay or pellets don't cause the urinary calculi, it is the improper ratio of Calcium to phosphorus.
They say you should feed them a 2:1 ratio calcium to phosphorus but I remember when my buck got UC years ago Vicki McGaugh told me she fed her bucks more like 5:1 ratio calcium to phosphorus.
Hard to say exactly how much alfafa pellets he should have to balance out the phosphorus plus it will depend on his size & how much he eats normally.

If you have a high iron content in your water & it doesn't go through a water softner that can also contribute to UC. That's where our problem started I do believe as I didn't know our water softner was not working right at the time.

Now I always make sure the boys bucks & wethers get Ammonium chloride somewhere in their diet I don't care what they eat. just because I don't ever want to go through that again.

[melco]

Thanks, your responses are very helpful to me. I learn so much here.