Ok, I think Ive asked this before but for the life of me I cant find it now on the site.So anyway, if goats have pasture and brush and water and all that what can you grow to feed them? Say for four milking nannies.What crops and how much of it in the feed?How much do I feed each of them?Lets say if you had all the land you could ever possible use(ya right). THANKS VERY MUCH! A Golden Plow helps not to till the land
You could grow alfalfa and red clover to bale or eat fresh.Pumpkins and squash,tomatoes( NOT the tomato plant) sunflowers,Comfrey, sugar beets.
Thanks a lot. I always here that theres so much out there about growing your own animal feed in books and such but Ive not found very much myself.Do you have any favorite books/magazines/websites/etc on the subject?If not do you have any idea how much/how to prepare the stuff you recominded?
I also cut my comfrey and bundle it and hang to dry to feed in the winter.the pumpkins and beets and winter squash will keep the longest in the root cellar or the cool basement.I just cut them up into small sqares when I feed them.The sunflowers can be dried in the shed or in the barn hung up side down,feed them whole plant.the swiss chard and tomatoes,carrots are fed in the summer.I feed the extra cukes to them and the chickens. the only thing is dont feed the tomatoe plant or the potatoe tops.Soy beans can also be dried and fed whole plant.
Mustard greens. But watch out that they don't take your hands, too, the greedy things! Mine can't get enough of the extra kale and mustard greens we have in the garden. Over the winter they eat dried leaves that I rake up and bag. Be sure to avoid oak leaves and pine needles, I think...but they love the dried leaves as a great treat to mix in with their hay. -Sarah
I have 6 pygmy goats, havent had them for long but... One day I cut them several branches off this weed tree, not sure what kind. When I got home they had cleaned off all of the leaves. Another day I weeded my garden, filled a 6 cu ft wheel barrow with weeds, and some plants that I thined out. They didnt touch it. So if you have lots of trees, pruning them would give them lots of food. As for actual feed, I'm not sure. I would guess corn, wheat, etc. would work. I give my goats bagged "All-Stock Feed" for about 15 minutes once a day. All day they have alfalfa hay availible. And most days I let them out into a small penned of yard (still waiting for tractor to make pasture). I dont let them out until after 11 though, not sure how true it is but, many people think they would bloat on wet grass. I think its more of wet inside the grass, that is the problem, versus wet on the grass, but I will play it safe.
Corn: We grow lots of corn and feed it all through the year. We feed husks, stems and all. Leave it standing til your ready to feed it and then just wack it down and throw it in, they'll love it. All my neighbors throw their corn leftovers in my lot. They also pick up apples and throw in, some will eat em and some won't.
