Oh boy - kid caught the Boer goat at the county fair. . .

[Millroad]

and it's coming to live with us next spring (well, not the same one). It will be free (ha!) - but he is supposed to fatten it up, show it at fair, and then sell it (gets to keep the "profits"). I'm expecting that if he wants to do well in the weight-gain category, we'll have to feed it a lot of grain? Even though we have 13 acres of prime grass/alfalfa pasture? We are totally new to goats, so any info/advice would be welcome.

(I'll be x-posting this on the sheep forum, as my other son caught a lamb at the same event.)

[Pony]

Well, not too much grain. Don't want him to develop urinary issues.

Goats can get sturdy on alfalfa, but they LOVE weeds/scrub the best. They're browsers, not lawn mowers.

You'll get a lot of different ideas on what to feed here. As has been noted occasionally, there are at least as many ways to raise goats as there are people raising them.

My goats get good alfalfa hay, alfalfa pellets, COB, BOSS, beet shred, and free-choice minerals. When I remember, they get baking soda.

We grew some mangelwurzels this year, and I wish I'd made it a point to be more careful growing it - as in more careful to grow MORE. The goats LOVE it!

I also just planted a Fall crop of turnips and a fistful of early-crop corn seed I found in a box. The goats enjoy the turnips (tops and roots), and even if the corn doesn't produce grain, they like the leaves/stalks.

Oh, and they also like apples, raisins, bananas....

[Millroad]

Hey - you haven't seen our chin-high alfalfa - lol!

OK - COB - what is that? And where can one get the mangel seeds? And, and, and. . what's the baking soda for? Do they get all acid-y?

[TwosCompany]

I just looked for mangel seeds and Johnny's carries them and has them instock! Must go order some now.

[Goat Servant]

COB; Corn Oats & Barley
But your protein levels arent going to be high enough for growing stock. I'd opt for 16+ protein grain mix.
We feed a 17.50 % here.

[Freeholder]

If they've got good alfalfa pasture, the grain doesn't need to be high in protein. It will provide some fat (on the animal -- carbohydrates = fat on animals or people) which is needed for showing; and it provides some minerals. Specifically grains are high in phosphorus, which is needed to balance the high calcium in the alfalfa.

Make sure you've got a good GOAT mineral mix; Sweetlix meat goat is a good one. BUT keep your sheep away from the goat mineral! They need their own low-copper mineral -- there's enough copper in goat mineral to be toxic to sheep. But the goats NEED the copper. So you'd better hand-feed the mineral to them separately.

Kathleen

[Pony]

Originally Posted by TwosCompany

I just looked for mangel seeds and Johnny's carries them and has them instock! Must go order some now.

Yeah, they have the best price, too. I did the leg work on that one last week.

If they run out, Shumway and Jung (yeah, I know they're essentially the same) carry mangels. Shumway also has a great selection of OP (Open Pollinated) corn.