[melinajj]

hi,

I am looking for some advice on feeding my goats. i started showing this year and it was obvious that at the beginning of the year they were definitely not looking as well and fat as the others in the shows.
I dont want them fat, i want them to be well fed.

I started keeping goats 4 years ago, i bought and old herd of 7 goats including a nasty billy goat.
Anyway long story short, i started feeding just rolled barley and oats 2lbs a day per goat plus ad lib haylage and access to baby yellow mineral block.
fresh water every day and carrots when avaialble.

I now feed a dairy cow 18 mix that our local merchant makes up, but they dont eat it all and leave approx 1/3 a day. I bought some horse conditioning mix as it had the same ingredients in the same %ages as the goat mix, but was 2/3rds the price.

My current herd consistes of 1 full grown 3 yr old British alpine Billy, 1 6 month old british alpine billy kid (unrelated) 7 milkers - (1 full british saanen, 1 british saanen cross Alpine, 2 full british alpines, 1 british toggenburg x british alpine, and 2 unknown breeding one white and one toggenburg), 2 kids from this year that i am keeping, 2 goatlings that are full british alpines.
they all live together (except the billy kid and the kids from this year.
I am separating them into 3 groups this winter - kids and resting nannies, full grown billy and horned nannies and thebilly kid with 2 nannies and one of the goatlings (the other goatling isnt mature enough yet).

i would appreciate any advice on feeding these guys to keep them in top shape.
They have a 2.5acres paddock with access to browse in 6 acres of other padocks as we rotate the sheep through. In winter when they start to get very wet feet i bring them in and they stay on a yard and in their sheds.

sorry to go on so, but tryign to give as much information as possible.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you here.

Where are you located? You can have that info appear on your posts if you go to User CP on the left end of the strip near the top, click, and fill in info.

What do you do about a worm treatment and/or prevention protocol? Do you have the vet test their poo for worm eggs?

The yellow block mineral isn't adequate for goats. Look for a good loose goat mineral. Purina has one that's a good place to start. Lots of us use Cargill's Right Now, Onyx. (It comes in different formulas. Onyx is the high copper one goats need.)

Only your milking does need the higher protein feed, and it *is* possible to over do it.

Bucks don't need high protein or much grain at all. They are more likely to develop urinary stones that block their urethra on high grain feed.

Goat kids need high quality hay, a moderate amount of grain, and a treatment protocol to prevent coccidia and regular fecal testing for worms.

Again, glad to have you here!

 

[melinajj]

Hi, thanks for replying, I live in the uk in North Wales.i worm count as i dont like using chemicals/drugs unless absolutely necessary, last count were all zero.

I have looked on line for a mineral suppliment and found one called caprivite (availalbe in hte uk)

All the goats have horse haylage which is high quality and fed ad lib. they choose this in preference to hay, should they have hay instead?

I currenlty run the billies with the nannies year round as they seem happier and more sociable that way. i will have to figue a way of them having grass nuts while the nannies get the grain ration.

thanks again

Melina

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

North Wales? We have no idea what might even be available. In minerals, you want a loose mineral, not a block, and high copper. Do not allow sheep access to a high copper mineral.

Haylage is not used much for goats in the U.S. because of the risk for mold. Goats do not tolerate mold.

I have to laugh at the mental picture of the bucks having grass nuts. What are those?

 

[melinajj]

hiya,

goats are not a big here as elsewhere - goat vets are a rare and treasured thing. loose minerals are available and i am going to order some when i get paid next!

Grass nuts are just that - dried and compressed grass. grass nuts in winter replace the grass. they have no grain at all.
We dont have alfalfa (some prepared plastic wrapped stuff that my goats wont touch) or lucern either, well not in the north of the country anyway. I am going to try to grow tasastane? tree lucern on our one south facing bit of land and that will hopefully give the goats some year round forage.

Haylage is very good (horses dont eat mold either) it is a drier haylage that i buy - the farmer who makes it produces it to be almost like hay and it smells like summer grass. the goats, horses and sheep all go mad for it.

The feed i have is supposed to be high in copper, (my sheep arent allowed anywhere near it). it is a bit powdery and they waste quite alot (8lbs a week) which i give to the pigs, so not really wasted as such.

i did originally feed rolled barley and oats, but thought the minerals were too low.
the goats looked well on it though.

i have it in my head to go back to rolled barley with addition of mixed flake (peas, maize and oats), black sunflower seeds and grass nuts.

not sure of the ratio yet - still working on that one.

the billies will just have grass nuts.

Melina