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.
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.