What do you feed your goats & tell me your goat health secrets?

[ne prairiemama]

I want to get my goats in tippy top shape

[Alice In TX/MO]

2/3 oats, 1/3 goat pellet of your choice. Good grass hay. A little alfalfa hay or alfalfa pellets if you want.

Black Oil Sunflower seeds if you want.

GOOD high copper LOOSE mineral. Cargill Right Now Onyx if available.

Or Replamin Plus gel multimineral/vitamin supplement.

Copper bolus if needed.

Nutritional yeast if you want to.

Calcium carbonate top dressed on the feed if you worry about calcium.

Ammonium Chloride sprinkled on the bucks's feed to prevent urinary calculi.

Baking Soda free choice for the milkers.

Everybody who responds will have different answers based on their experience and location.

[LomahAcres]

Yeah, Lots of different answers to this one - not only that, but depending on what you want to do with your goats and the kind you have will have a weigh in on your management.

All my goats are dairy or a cross of, most full size.

Everyone - free choice alfalfa hay year round, always loose baking soda out.

Grain mix when needed - 3 to 4 parts whole oats or barley, 1 part BOSS
For kids added 1/4 - 1/2 cup sprinkling of calf manna on their dish.

Mineral - Most all our local mineral is junk, so I mix it a bit.
40lbs ADM alliance goat power mineral
20lbs Calf pro goat mineral (love this mineral but too pricy to feed by itself)
15 lbs Kelp
15 lbs Yeast Culture

Replamin gel plus given 2 times a month (or once a month to my minis).

Copper bolus/bo-se -
Standard bucks 2-3 times yearly
Standard girls - 2 times yearly
Minis - once yearly

Old-as-dirt goats -
Monthly Bo-se
Dailey vit C chew-ables

[yarrow]

Alice and I do things VERY much alike.... Works well for my herd.

Susie

[ne prairiemama]

Ours are all dairy goats

Ok we live near Orshilens, tractor supply and valley vet Do you think I can find the Cargill Right Now Onyx at one of those?
Where do you 3 get most of your feed/minerals etc?

forgot to say thanks!!

[Alice In TX/MO]

You'll have to call around. There's apparently no rhyme or reason to who stocks what. A Purina dealer in Alton, Missouri, can't get the same Purina feed I can get at the Purina dealer here in Texas. Go figure.

When I'm in the Alton area, I use Kent feed.

[yarrow]

and I live in Alton. .but drive to thayer and buy EVERYTHING from the mill there. but, we also feed NO pre made concentrates.. so I'm only buying whole, single products..

susie, mo ozarks

[CadesLilFarm]

I baiscally mix my own just with a pelleted feed as well.


I am pretty certain I am going to start mixing my own though.

My current mix is:

ADM Dairy Goat 16

Black oil sunflower seeds

Beet pulp shreds

Standlee alfalfa pellets.


This new mix I wanna do was recommended to me by someone on another forum.

2 parts whole oats
2 parts rolled barley
2 parts BOSS
2 parts field peas
1 part ground flax
1 part alfalfa pellets.

I am pretty certain I am gonna use the mix above. I really like the ingredinets.

As for minerals......

I give my does mainly Cargill Onyx Right Now. Its a cow mineral with HIGH copper, much more copper than goat minerals. Sometimes I will mix in a bag of MannaPro for them. For Ammonium Chloride for Mystery the wether that lives with them.

I use MannaPro minerals for my bucky boys. It has less copper, but it contains Ammonium Chloride, which is needed to stop urinary tract problems in bucks.


They also get free choice grass hay.

I will also increase alfalfa pellets in my does that are milking or nursing kids.

This is all what works for me, so it might not work for you.

Cade

[punchiepal]

According to Cargills site Valley Vet in Marysville, KS is a dealer for Right Now minerals.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Oh my goodness, we forgot browse. Browse is the secret.

When in Missouri, my goats have browse available naturally, and they go get it themselves.

When in Texas, I am the browse provider. I harvest oak from roadsides, graveyards, parks, etc., by pruning low hanging branches on trees. The goats get several branches per day.

I also rake up oak leaves in the spring when our live oak trees shed their old leaves. Bag them and feed them in the winter.

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Oh my goodness, we forgot browse. Browse is the secret.

When in Missouri, my goats have browse available naturally, and they go get it themselves.

When in Texas, I am the browse provider. I harvest oak from roadsides, graveyards, parks, etc., by pruning low hanging branches on trees. The goats get several branches per day.

I also rake up oak leaves in the spring when our live oak trees shed their old leaves. Bag them and feed them in the winter.

You feed old dry leaves?

[CraterCove]

They love oak leaves... of course I am uncertain that i would be able to save them without them getting moldy, it's so humid down here in Fl and GA

[Doug Hodges]

Lots mention pelleted feed. Im changing my feed this year. I don't like what Im feeding. Which pelleted feed do you use. Ive been looking at the Noble Goat Grower and Noble Goat Dairy.
1)Should I add oats to them? Why?

2?Do you give the grower free choice to your kids? How do you feed it?

3) Do you add BOSS to the pellets? If so, do you grind it?

4) The grower has Ammonium Chloride in it. Will I need to add more if I feed it to all my kids but mostly bucks?

5) Can I feed my bucks the dairy or do I need to feed them something else? I was thinking the grower since it has the ammonium chloride. Thoughts?

6) The grower says it has Rumensin or Decoquinate (depending on plant) for Coccid. Is that all they need for Coccid or do I still need to administer the Toltrazuril?

I know everyone has their own opinion. I would like to hear yours.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Yes, I feed dry leaves. The goats respond as if they are potato chips! NOM NOM! I'm careful to rake when the ground and leaves are DRY.

In Texas, I feed a SMALL amount of Noble Goat Dairy Parlor. In Missouri, I feed, oh shoot, something else. Can't remember the name. I do this because I'm not confident enough to stop feeding it in fear that I won't have them supplied with every single perfect nutrient.

I feed oats because it's real food.

I add ammonium chloride to the buck feed, even though it has some. I learned NOT to feed straight buck feed without balancing the calcium/phosphorous ratio or feeding AC when I lost a BEAUTIFUL registered tri-color Mini Mancha buck to urinary calculi. It was an awful day.

I do not put out grower for kids. They eat what the big girls eat. I use Tolt....whatever. Baycox.

Not feeding Sunflower Seeds at the moment, but when I do, they are not ground. Goat teeth are good at grinding. They eat sticks and bark in the woods. They can handle BOSS.

[punchiepal]

We bag my mom's dry leaves in the fall to feed during the winter they LOVE them. During the cold spell it got them moving around trying to get as many as they could. LOL

When feeding kids medicated feed, you do need to do prevention until they are eating enough daily to get the levels up in their bodies.

When I feed BOSS I don't grind it. Doesn't bother them.

[coso]

Which pelleted feed do you use.

I use 18 % Kent Goat Milker for my does in milk.
I use 16% Kent Goat 20 R for my kids and my bucks.

1)Should I add oats to them? Why? That is up to you ! I don't because I don't want to mess with mixing feeds, and I don't want to dilute the ammonium Chloride in the 20R. You will lower your protein a little if you mix in oats but not very much. I think whole oats will run you about 12-13% CP.

2?Do you give the grower free choice to your kids? How do you feed it? I challenge feed. I feed twice a day when they are small, if they clean it up they get more. If there is some left I back it off. I do that until i can get them up to a couple lbs a day then I level them off. Then I back them back off when they get 80lbs or so back to about a lb and a half.

3) Do you add BOSS to the pellets? If so, do you grind it? Yes, Just a little to topdress the feed. I see more bloom to them when I include this, especially noticeable when I shave them for the first time for that year. Don't grind it.

4) The grower has Ammonium Chloride in it. Will I need to add more if I feed it to all my kids but mostly bucks? I don't !! Never have had a problem with UC.

5) Can I feed my bucks the dairy or do I need to feed them something else? I was thinking the grower since it has the ammonium chloride. Thoughts? I feed mine the 20R grower that has the ammonium chloride in it.

6) The grower says it has Rumensin or Decoquinate (depending on plant) for Coccid. Is that all they need for Coccid or do I still need to administer the Toltrazuril? You will have to do some kind of cocci treatment until they are eating enough of the feed to deal with it. Usually I treat until they are 6 months old. I figure by then they should be able, with the help of the rumensin, to control it on their own.

Just the way I do things. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat ( or feed a goat ). Good browse does help too. I have an abundance of it, here in the Ozarks. LOL I see my milk go up when the first green starts popping out. Especially the Multiflora Rose.

[dozedotz]

Doug, Here is a photo of our "Leaf Bar." We rake the leaves when they fall (fresh) and tarp them. We open the tarp on good, dry days and the girls eat from the "bar." They will also eat leaves left on the ground from last year...not all of them...they are PICKY and I have never figured out what makes one old dried up leaf a real find and the one next to it is totally icky.

[dozedotz]

Sorry, forgot the dern photo...is this age? NO, can't be must be Mac's fault.

[LomahAcres]

Originally Posted by ne prairiemama

Ours are all dairy goats

Ok we live near Orshilens, tractor supply and valley vet Do you think I can find the Cargill Right Now Onyx at one of those?
Where do you 3 get most of your feed/minerals etc?

forgot to say thanks!!

I have Orshlens and Tractor Supply too, I cannot get the Cargills here. Both have the Calf Pro brand Goat mineral. Whole Oats and BOSS I get from Orschlens. Find a local feed mill - that's where I get my extra stuff - if they don't have it they can usually order it. I used to be able to get Cargills from my feed mill - but then they told me they couldn't carry it anymore - however that might just have been because they found out I was feeding it to goats and "Goats can't have copper, and we can't be liable when your animals dies from copper toxicity" as I believe he put it. Anyway - my goats never liked it, they are very happy with the mix I use. It is still 'new' yet so I won't know how well it's working for another few years, but so far so good.

[CadesLilFarm]

Originally Posted by Doug Hodges

Lots mention pelleted feed. Im changing my feed this year. I don't like what Im feeding. Which pelleted feed do you use. Ive been looking at the Noble Goat Grower and Noble Goat Dairy.

1)Should I add oats to them? Why?



2?Do you give the grower free choice to your kids? How do you feed it?



3) Do you add BOSS to the pellets? If so, do you grind it?



4) The grower has Ammonium Chloride in it. Will I need to add more if I feed it to all my kids but mostly bucks?



5) Can I feed my bucks the dairy or do I need to feed them something else? I was thinking the grower since it has the ammonium chloride. Thoughts?



6) The grower says it has Rumensin or Decoquinate (depending on plant) for Coccid. Is that all they need for Coccid or do I still need to administer the Toltrazuril?



I know everyone has their own opinion. I would like to hear yours.

No Noble Goat. Bad bad bad. ADM is the route I would go.