Free choice alfalfa for Pygmy goats

[Easter eggers]

Hello I have a quick question. Do I give my Pygmy goat free choice alfalfa? Thanks

 

[Nahnah]

I don't think I would give free choice for a couple of reasons, first depending on the protein content, it could cause health issue if to high, and secondly goats will waste a lot if given free choice as they will bed in it and often won't eat it after it has been walked on, and shouldn't eat it after they have messed on it.

 

[mama24]

No, you need to limit alfalfa with any animal it is fed to. It is too rich, and can make them sick. If you have an animal that is extremely hard to put and keep weight on, you could possibly switch them to free choice alfalfa, but you would need to do it gradually to slowly acclimate them to it so they don't get sick. And by sick, I mean they could die or possibly have lifelong health issues from it. I give my goats alfalfa every day, but I give them a limited amount. I give them about 1/4 of the amount of hay they usually eat in one day, and they will eat all of the alfalfa first before moving on to their orchardgrass hay. I actually haven't been giving them any alfalfa the last few weeks b/c our grass suddenly popped up green and lush (we are in NC) and they have had the runs from eating so much grass. I figured the alfalfa on top of that wouldn't be great for them. They're barely touching their hay anyway on their own, just eating grass and I give them grain twice a day since they are both heavily pregnant and will be milkers once the kids are born. I do give them a little bit of the chaff separated out from the alfalfa hay in their daily grain, though.

 

[Easter eggers]

O thank you all I really needed that Thanks