Feeding goats questions-please read the whole post before answering

[nightshade]

Quote:
First I am not an expert but this is what I have learned and been taught by other goat people.

sweet feed is a horse feed, it comes in different protein levels so make sure you ask for the right level. I feed dairy goat feed from the local mill. They make their own mix it has oats, corn and all the usual stuff you would find in sweet feed, as well as alfalfa pellets and goat mineral. I feed this to all my nannies and our wether who is my spoiled little brat. I have been told that if you have a billy/buck exspecially a pigmy or other small breed, one that is not wethered that you should only feed grain feed that contains amonium chlorinate (I think that is how it is spelled ask at you local feed mill to be sure, it is little hard balls mixed in the feed) It keeps the billies from getting kidney stones, which can be deadly to them.

I also feed horse grade hay daily but that is mostly cause it is what I have poorer hay will not hurt them, as well as treats of fruits and veggies like apples watermelon and pumpkin,scraps out of the garden like lettus that went to bolt or leaves off of crops like califlower. I bought 2 car loads of pumpkins from a local farmer around halloween just for my animals. My goats get two pumpkins to every 3-4 goats twice a week. CAUTION if you have a goat that has never had things like fresh produce or if you are changing it's diet drasticly you will want to have a tube of probiotics around to reset its rumen if it gets the "runs". This too could easily kill your goat if not delt with in time. I keep a tube of probiotics, a tube of eletirolites, goat wormer and a bottle of antiboitics around at all times. Stuff happens it is just better to realize that early and have the stuff around so that when it does you have a chance of saving your animal. Cause if you are like me they are more then a farm animal they are pets

I also pasture them most of the summer durning the daylight hours, note on this is that goats do better in brush or weeds then they will in a nice grass yard.

I would suggest getting your goats mineral blocks , plain salt and block a goat block, you can get both at your local tractor supply. You will want a bowl of soda free choice at all times to cope with bloat, regular baking soda will work.

Hope this helps some
BJ

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I got some great advice her on BYC. My large animal vet that tends to my horses recommended that unless a doe is pregnent or nursing, none of them need grain. She recommended a good quality hay.

I do give mine some grain (Goat Mix). But more as a treat. They have hay and pasture 24 X 7.

 

[kstaven]

The only thing I would add to the discussion is feed sweet feed or grain in moderation. Too much and you can get a bloated goat which has the potential to be deadly.

We feed primarily hay with alfalfa. Beyond that they browse.

Ours are toggenburg dairy goats.

 

[Chatychick]

The reason wethers dont need grain ...especially sweet feed is that the calcium/phosprus isnt ballanced. That is why if you do feed them sweet feed they DO need alfalfa pellets or hay, as it balances it out . I get the Ammonium Chloride from Hoeggers. I give it to my wethers that run with my does. Kidney stones (UC) Urinary calculi is very painful and can cause death. This will prevent it and I give it as a drench to my boys. Bucks and wethers. I do this each quater...every 4 mths.
I feed whole oats, sweet feed and alfalfa pellets all mixed together year round. Yes my goats are fat and sassy. they milk is wonderful also. You just have to watch wethers as they will put on weight faster than does. If you can feed them separate and you can monitor the grain that way. Good luck and remember Goats are like potato chips you can have just 1..and very addictive. I started with 3 and now have 25...did have 40 ...and got babies comming in Feb. Yep the total will rise.... lol

 

[happyfeet]

Hello bossynbella,

I grew up around horses, so when we got our rescue pygmy, who was going to be somebodys dinner, i did so in a hurry and knowing absolutely NOTHING about goats. we had so many problems with her, fortunately a man up the road raises goats and is a goat GOD, helped us!! she had cocci first, then everybody said that does do not get urinary calculi, but of course mine did, the vet came and dehorned her(completely barbaric) and had a major infection,she also had lice very bad. she was on her death bed and i was freaking out, but thankfully there were people around who were KIND and FRIENDLY, just ignore the idiots, you know the saying ignorance is bliss, on that note... there is a goat pellet made by country acres, we get it at our western reserve. it has ammonium chloride in it, to help prevent urinary calculi. if they are not bred or babies they can have a half of a quarter cup am and pm, just to make them happy, my girls get an alfalfa timothy trefoil mix, i have one pygmy doe and one oberhasli doe, they get one flake am and one flake pm. goats need roughage to make their bellies work, i hay twice a day in the winter and in the evening in the summer, they can munch leaves and pasture stuff in the summer. too much grain is bad for them, i learned that the hard way, both of mine were emaciated when we got them and i wanted to feed them they were hungry, big mistake, makes hard poo and causes urinary calculi, depending upon where you live you have to make sure your soils are not selenium deficient, if they are like mine(we live in ohio) then you need to give a selenium shot twice a year, i am only aware that you can obtain it from a vet only, i guess you used to be able to get it on line, but i have had no luck. if you have any questions feel free to email me [email protected]. i do not come on this site all the time. good luck and do what yopu feel is right and what works for your goats!!!

 

[1acrefarm]

I let mine graze all I can. I shoot for a bare minimum of five hours a day but prefer 10. If they don't look full when I have to put them up or I can't stick around to tie them out I cut them some privet branches and other stuff for them to clean off. I usually stack those about three feet high in the pen. I give them 14% all stock and occasionally some 10% sweet feed as a treat. When I give them feed I split a big coffee can between the three. Two coffee cans if they did not graze enough. Right now they are getting lots of maple leaves and acorns. They seem healthy and happy. The doe is slightly out of form from nursing but she is picking back up. I am not saying my way is the right way it is just what I do.

My neighbors also give them there occasional left over biscuits. They really love that.

 

[Chirpy]

Reading through the above posts you've again gotten conflicting information. Don't you just love that?

I think part of the misinformation comes from the fact that wethers should be fed differently than bucks and does and does that are pregnant or nursing or being milked. Sometimes people don't differentiate between a doe and a wether when they are giving advice.

So, like everyone else you need to read as much as possible, ask lots of questions (like you are) and then figure out what works for you.

Wethers can get UC if given too much grain. So, many people don't feed it ever to make sure there are no chances for problems. Others feed it as a special treat on occasion. Some people have lucked out and fed it daily and not had their wether end up with UC. Personally, I'd err on the side of caution and not feed it at all or only give it once in a while (in a small amount) as a treat.

It's pretty important to figure out if your doe is pregnant. Why do you think she is pregnant? Was she with a buck for an extended period of time or did you take her to a buck when she was in heat? Or did someone tell you she was? I'm asking because you will want to have a good idea on when she's due to deliver just so you are around if there are any problems during birthing and because she would be due in possible cold weather and it's easy to lose a kid due to being born outside in the cold. (I just got a doe this week that was with a buck for 6 weeks... argh! I will have to be on 'kid' watch from the start of March until they are born. Talk about stressing every day I have to leave home during that time.)

Does should be fed a good quality alfalfa or alfalfa/grass or grass hay. If she's pregnant and when she is nursing or milking it should be grass/alfalfa mix or straight alfalfa. I feed my milking does straight alfalfa. A sweet feed mix (that's what I use when they are on the milk stand) or grain mix is also a must if she's pregnant or nursing or milking and is good management even if she's not.

Finally I just want to add that people are very passionate about animals and when they are harsh on someone it's usually because they've seen animals hurt, get seriously ill or die because the animal(s) were brought to a completely unprepared home. That doesn't excuse rude behavior or comments but should help people understand why things are said. If someone reads these posts and at a future date finds that they are in the position to add an unexpected animal to their home... maybe they will think twice and stop and research first so they are better prepared before bringing that animal to their home. I have found that most of the people on BYC that have gotten unexpected animals immediately come here for advice to help them learn quickly how to properly care for that animal. That puts them a cut above people who just muddle through at the expense of the health and well being of said animal. And, with animals... it's always a learning experience so we all need to come here and ask for help at times. Sometimes animals just 'fall into our laps' so it's wonderful that we can come here and quickly get help. And I'm personally glad that those animals fell in those laps... since BYC people work so hard to take the best care of their animals.

Have tons of fun with your new family members. Goats are such a riot and have such fantastic personalities.

 

[bossynbella]

Thank you chirpy and thank you to everyone else as well I was thinking the same thing okay so this is still conflicting information but it was still clearer.
You had a few questions though and I want to answer them also have a couple more of my own.
--- I think my doe is pregnant because when we bought her they had her and all there other does in with a buck she had been with them for 4 weeks. So she could be or she might not be just depends on if he bred her or not.

my question is this- My feed contains AC amoniam cloride or however you spell that. Does this mean that it has stuff in there to help prevent UC?

Also this morning I was watching the goats and noticed them really bitting at themselves. I thought oh great bugs! So I caught the doe, no way to catch the wether right now he is still very wild. I looked her over and saw no bugs I did notice that though she has a nice belly on her I could feel her back bone like it was sticking up she felt bony to me but I am not sure if that is what goats feel like or not. Any thoughts on this???

Thanks again to everyone I think I am getting the food thing figured out. Slowly but surely
Melissa

 

[Chirpy]

bossynbella asked:

--- I think my doe is pregnant because when we bought her they had her and all there other does in with a buck she had been with them for 4 weeks. So she could be or she might not be just depends on if he bred her or not.

It's most likely that if she was with a buck for 4 weeks she's bred. However, it's not 100%. When I'm waiting to breed my girls I check their back-end every morning and night when I'm milking them. A goats cycle is 18 - 21 days. You need to watch for any or all of the following signs to show she is coming into heat:

1) discharge
2) pinkish area just above the vulva and often slightly swollen there
3) lots of tail flagging
4) mounting other goats or they are mounting her
5) goes off feed - meaning she quits eating like a normal little piggy goat
6) gives less milk if you are milking her


Did I miss any?

If you can get a buck rag from someone - keep it in a glass jar and open it and let her smell it every day. When she's coming into heat she should be VERY interested in that rag; otherwise she will ignore it.

What I have found with my goats is that none of them read the books so they don't follow the "rules" for coming into heat!

One of mine is pretty easy to tell when she comes into heat; the other one is next to impossible. I'm actually trying to catch her now for a breeding this month. I sure wish it were easier but she's not showing any of the signs above. I just got a buck rag yesterday and hope that helps me.

Now, if she comes into heat you have between 6 and 24 hours to get her bred with the 'normal' time frame about 12 hours. So, if you want to breed your goat you need to have a buck all lined up, ready and waiting and then rush her to him as soon as you see any signs of heat. You can literally miss her by waiting until morning if you notice the signs at night.

I don't have wethers and thus don't have the experience to answer your feed question. But, there are others here who can and hopefully they'll see it and jump in. If not, start a new thread with that specific question.

My thought on the biting of themselves would be lice? I, again, don't have enough experience in that area to really give you good help. I have never seen my goats bite themselves except to give that occasional 'scratch' to an itchy area.

Good luck... you're a great goat mommy already!

edited: spelling and adding a sentence​