How much hay?

[nancylee]

Hi all,
I am getting my new goats next week. There is one LaMancha and two Nigerian dwarves, all adults. I live upstate New York, with a short growing season, but we are on 40 acres of trees. How many bales of hay would I need for these three goats through the winter? These are full-size bales. I think they are a very nice grass hay. Is that ok for goats?

Thanks in advance!
Nancy

[oberhaslikid]

Years ago this was brought up and I noted that the standing is 20 bales per head for full size goat.Really depends on location.
I had 7 last year and we normally get 150 bales with 30 or so left over come Spring.It wasnt a bad winter, very mild. I also supplement alfalfa pellets too.I plan on the 150 again with the pellets and 12 goats for the next year.
Gotta remember they waste alot. Which is used as bedding.

[PaulNKS]

"Standard size" bale means absolutely nothing. Sorry. I bale mine at about 50 pounds per bale. Some people bale heavier. I sold to some new people from Michigan that said the heaviest bales they ever had back home was about 35 pounds.

Basically, a goat should eat 4.5% of their body weight in feed/hay per day. If they are on just hay, it would be about 4-1/2 pounds of hay for a 100 pound goat per day.

Finding out how much the goats weigh and how much the bales weigh is the only way to determine how many you'll need.

Good luck.

[MaddieLynn]

A 3-string bale lasts around 2 weeks for our 2 adults and one 4 month old doeling.