Thoughts on Bermuda

[Doug Hodges]

My friend offered me fertilized and sprayed Bermuda for $3 per bale. They are getting ready to bale. I'm getting 100 bales and will feed it to my horses. I fed it to my goats before I bought alfalfa last year.

Is it good enough for goats too or should I just continue with my plan to buy the alfalfa for 3 times that amount?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Depends on your goals, what else you are feeding, and if your goats like it.

Bermuda is usually lower protein and lower calcium than alfalfa.

[Clovers_Clan]

I feed bermuda hay here in Georgia to supplement winter browse through the lean times. Its hard to find anything else in the small amounts I need; I don't have much storage space, and have a small herd. Its great for horses but basically just roughage for the goats. They don't eat it until they get hungry when there's no browse left. I still have to supplement with alfalfa pellets, even for the bucks. It did come in handy to keep bellies full and generating heat through our unusually cold winter this year.

[OakHollowBoers]

If your feeding alfalfa now, the goats may just turn their noses up at the bermuda. I personally feed bermuda since I live in N. Florida and alfalfa runs about $16 a bale. Mine like it, but it doesn't have the content of a legume hay like alfalfa or perennial peanut or like a northern or western grass. The southeast just can't grow the same stuff as elsewhere. Just had a conversation about grass in different areas with someone last week. Mine like the bermuda, unless I have been giving them something better, like ryegrass, perennial peanut, or peanut vine (late fall/winter). They are currently stealing it from the rabbits.

[aart]

Originally Posted by Doug Hodges

My friend offered me fertilized and sprayed Bermuda for $3 per bale. They are getting ready to bale. I'm getting 100 bales and will feed it to my horses. I fed it to my goats before I bought alfalfa last year.

Is it good enough for goats too or should I just continue with my plan to buy the alfalfa for 3 times that amount?

Hmmmm...sprayed with what? This made me realize that I never thought about what hay plants might treated with as they grow. Apologies for the naiveté of a non hay user (so I know nothing about it, except that it's not straw)

[Ru2hunt]

I have been keeping Bermuda out for my Nubians and they seem to love it. I am also keeping alfalfa pellets out free choice as well ...as they are in milk. Alfalfa is outrageous here and I can feed the pellets with a whole lot less waste....in my experience.

[mygoat]

If bermuda is cheaper but still a green fresh 'soft' hay, I'd definetely go for it. The only thing I would do is add alfalfa pellets in to the diets of growing kids and milkers.

[V-NH]

In my area, there's really no such thing as a "type" of hay unless you go to Tractor Supply Company and buy it there. I buy generic hay that is a mix of grass, clover, and everything else that happens to be growing and my goats seem to like it okay.

[Backfourty,MI.]

What about buying this hay if you like it & it's nice hay like Mygoat said & supplementing with alfalfa pellets. I think that's what I would do.

[Goats Galore]

Doug, our goats chomp Bermuda/Coastal hay all the time, but I do mix in a little alfalfa hay when loading the feeder and they get alfalfa pellets as snacks. Of course, goats pick out the alfalfa first! They also graze, but since we have had an unusual amount of rain there are small mushrooms all over the pasture. Are you having the problem?

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by aart

Hmmmm...sprayed with what? This made me realize that I never thought about what hay plants might treated with as they grow. Apologies for the naiveté of a non hay user (so I know nothing about it, except that it's not straw)

Weed control and fescue control. My goats loved the Bermuda last year but may not touch it after all the alfalfa they've been eating. I'll probably just feed the Bermuda to the horses and buy the $9 per bale alfalfa for the girls.

[Doug Hodges]

All my yearlings and older get a mixture of oats, boss, alfalfa pellets, chopped corn, molasses and noble goat daily as well. I have good browse and their hay feeder rarely runs out.

(My mixture changes every time I have it mixed. Next time I'm adding more molasses. Last time I added more oats and less corn)

[Alice In TX/MO]

Why more molasses??

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Why more molasses??

It's very dry and a lot Turns to powder. But the main reason is that the mixed feed Becky Goldthwaite has is almost dripping with molasses. I'm not going that extreme but would like to do something about the powder. Her goats eat every drop. Mine waste.

[OakHollowBoers]

Could you get wet molasses instead of dry molasses? IIRC, molasses can upset the gut ph, one noticeable effect being less milk production.

[dozedotz]

Doug, I am really interested in what the breeders from whom you have been purchasing goats are feeding their animals. As you know, I think you are buying some REALLY top stuff!! This time around I am noticing "chopped corn" and "more molasses." WOW! That totally surprises me. Won't the "fat girls" end up unable to walk???! Our fat girls get there with just plain old oats, BOSS and Purina Dairy, graze and alfalfa hay. Not that I don't like them as they are...I do! But to what purpose do Becky and others include the molasses and corn? Did they say?

[Doug Hodges]

Yea. The corn surprised me too. But you can't argue with the big impressive girls these folks have. I ask lots of questions. Ruth Green gave me her secret recipe and asked I not share it but it has all those ingredients. Becky Goldthwaite feeds a combination of chopped corn, oats and molasses. Ruth uses sweet feed instead of molasses. The key is to get them to eat everything you put in front of them and not have them pick out the stuff they like best.

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by OakHollowBoers

Could you get wet molasses instead of dry molasses? IIRC, molasses can upset the gut ph, one noticeable effect being less milk production.

Maybe I said that wrong. The feed without molasses is dry. I use the wet.

[dozedotz]

Far be it from me to argue with the obvious and beautiful success of breeders like Becky, Ruth, Jana, Reuel Dairy, etc. It just is so different from what "everyone" says is what is the correct diet. I love BIG goats. Sleek, shiny, milky goats with deep bodies and the ability to produce triplets of good size that grow into beautiful, healthy babies. I'm always open to what other folks are feeding that produces that kind of goat...glad you ask so many questions!!! LOL.

[Doug Hodges]

I changed my feed over the past couple of months and I'm noticing huge differences in how my girls look. Also I think my yearlings are growing like crazy.

The babies (up to 8 months) still get milk (although they prefer feed more than milk now) noble goat grower 16 and hay.