Introducing Alfalfa Pellets- how much?

[jill.costello]

I want to start giving my pregnant doe Alfalfa pellets, but she's never gotten them before. How much should I start her on, and then how much can she get? Currently, she's free-range over 15 acres and just get's a very small "treat" of sweet feed at night. (a handfull)

Thanks! -Jill

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Still give her the treat, than offer her a small amount like 1 cup, as much as she will eat say in 5 mintues. Do this for a couple days and then increase the amount to perhaps 2 cups, do this for a couple of days and continue to increase until it's about 3 pounds, or until she is always leaving some pellets in the feeder
. The large livestock scoops (red or green plastic) holds 3 pounds, and is what each of my Nubians are offered, there is always pellets left in the feeders. My girls still browse really well, they also get some grain on the milkstand when in milk and the very end of pregnancy, but the mainstay of their diet is alfalfa pellets.

I will guarantee you that in 30 days you will be back on the list saying how much better she looks, her next lactation she will milk nearly twice as much as she did this year. Moving to a more natural diet that a dairy goat needs, she can't get enough calcium or protien from sweet feed or browse, you simply won't believe the difference in her. Add a good loose mineral for beef cattle in your area, and you will also notice an overall difference in herd health, less parasites, less feet trimming, few kidding problems.

After she freshens if you want to milk her, move from the sweet feed to a good horse allgrain (corn oats barlet) probably similar to what you are feeding now minus the molassas which is very hard on their rumen. Vicki

[GeorgiaberryM]

I am also giving alfalfa pellets to goats who have never had them before - the two yougsters really like them, but my pregnant doe still turns her nose up at them. She eats alfalfa hay and loves browse and corn. I'm just going to keep offering the pellets and hope she will eventually accept them.

Withholding her grain to try to force her to eat the pellets doesn't seem right, since she is pregnant, but I am going to introduce the horse feed and see if she likes that - I know the corn isn't very nutritious.

Georgiaberry
www.berryfarm.com

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

They will always balk at pellets if they have the choice of alfalfa hay. It's not witholding the grain if they don't need it. And a doe who is not at the end of a pregnancy or in production (nursing kids or milking) does not need grain. We use the alfalfa pellets because of the keeping quality and waste of alfalfa hay. I will be happy to never again have to Find, Buy, Haul, Lift or worry over another bale of alfalfa as long as I live I also don't want to pitchfork expensive alfalfa hay into my compost pile anymore! Vicki

[dancinggoatgirl]

I fed it for a while tghis year and liked the results.. I'll get back into it again next year when all the does are in full lactation. It's late in lactation for my girls and one's already pregnant (I don't feed Alfalfa to Pregnant does) so I wuite using them..
I want to try Alfalfa Hay Cubes next year.. Anyone ever use these??????? Are they better or worse then pellets?
L

[gryndlgoat]

Originally Posted by dancinggoatgirl

I want to try Alfalfa Hay Cubes next year.. Anyone ever use these??????? Are they better or worse then pellets?
L

All I can find for my goats is the cubes. The alfalfa dehydrator folks around here make pellets but no feed stores carry them. I have talked to the dehy companies themselves and they will sell me pellets- 50lb bags at $6/bag- but the minimum order is 5 TONS! With only 5 goats...well, you get the picture.

Anyways, my guys love the cubes, as long as I break them up into small "wafers" that fit into their mouths- they will spit out anything too big or hard to chew and leave it. It takes an hour or so to break up a 50 lbs bag- pellets would be so much easier- but my goats do great on them.

[homebirtha]

Originally Posted by dancinggoatgirl

(I don't feed Alfalfa to Pregnant does)
L

Can I ask why? I'm thinking of introducing pellets too, but will have pregnant does hopefully in the fall. Is there a concern about alfalfa for pregnant does?

[GeorgiaberryM]

Alright, well let's hope, as I will run out of hay soon, that she will start to eat the pellets.

[elgordo]

Does anyone have problems with goats/sheep choking on the pellets?! I've had terrible luck with this here - I had to soak the pellets to mush them up before I could feed. It was such a bother that I went to using cob with peas. What is the diameter of the pellets out there?!

[Old Dominion]

Originally Posted by Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians

move from the sweet feed to a good horse allgrain (corn oats barlet)

Hi Vicki,

Please clarify; isn’t sweet feed anything with molasses in it? Wouldn’t horse feed be sweet feed? Our mill is making some changes so I would really like to feed just plain grains if possible. Any suggestions for a feed mix without molasses? We have been doing AP for years. Love them.

Jolene

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

Grain mixes (not plain individual grains) come in 3 forms. Pelleted, Textured (what we all call sweet feed) and dry (dry mix, allgrain) Dry Mixes are just plain grains, they can contain some oil to 'stick' yeast, bicarb, minerals, kelp to the grains, but they do not contain mollassas. Mollassas doesn't add much of anything to the diet, it is wonderful for horses to get them to eat the ground up poor quality parts of the left over grains...but it is not fine for goats and their rumens. It's high in iron, which goats need little of and too much iron causes more important minerals to not be absorbed, like copper. It is high in energy, but just like sugar energy it is a quick energy sending blood sugar levels up, but crashing down, and most grain mixes contain enough corn so all energy needs are already met with it. It also makes the rumen so acidic they actually don't assimilate their grain efficently, they can have so much acid forming molassas in the grain, minerals and tubs that they foam at the mouth when chewing their cud. Their saliva has all the natural acid they need for their system.

Plus the biggy is no mold, and NO FLIES!!! Mine is Pilgrims 12% dry mix....Corn, Oats, Barley, alfalfa pellet, soy, and Pilgrims like Bluebonnet have the best mineral mixes going. Going to a high end quality horse label gives you more of everything and wonderful minerals like biotin, yeasts, probitoics, kelp. So every bite you feed your milkers is all real, no byproducts no fillers. How we can keep our size, our milk and win in the show ring on 1 pound of grain a day plus alfalfa pellets. You would be feeding 3 times that much of a prepared grain. If you could get a doe to eat that much with mollassas in it.

It's such a better way of thinking about the whole feeding program. No more reliance on grain to do the job our hay isn't/wasn't doing, and it's cheaper. Vicki