Lets talk about goats!

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I personally don't understand this fermented foods thing, in my day it was called silage, and it was for cows only, I had a pet sheep consume moldy silage and died a horrible death, I would not feed it to goats. And as for feeding alfalfa to horses, that's crazy too, fastest was to colic and other behavior issues, horses are called hayburners for a reason. Bermuda grass hay is good for horses, I would look for Timothy clover weed mix, that's what we bale and feed, I do forget that most people don't have access to what I do. Goats like leaves or blades of grass in there hay, not the stems.

 

[cassie]

alfalfa hay is very rich as well, remember goats are made to eat poor quality browse, brambles, small trees, alfalfa is high in protein and will cause diarrhea, as an ex dairy farmer we would feed cows alfalfa because of the high protein content, made more milk, but also made loose poop, and all kinds of digestive health problems, my goats get pasture in the summer and grass hay in the winter, there will be a lot of waste with grass hay as they don't eat the stems, but for a long healthy life it is best for them. I also free choice feed baking soda and goat mineral, as well as occasional tree branches, old bananas, crackers and apples, bread, and a few other things, all in small amounts.

What you feed your goats depends on what you are using them for and what is available in your area. If you have milk goats they need high quality feed to produce well. I had a goat dairy for many years in central California. I was also employed as a milker on a cow dairy. The hay fed to California goats is almost exclusively alfalfa and the best alfalfa the owners can find at that. In fact I never met a goat owner in that area that did not feed alfalfa. The goats thrive on it. So do dairy cows. The cows there are most commonly fed alfalfa and corn silage occasionally supplemented with green chop. I have no idea what digestive upsets and health problems from feeding alfalfa you are referring to. I never saw any. The only time I saw really loose poop in the cows was when they were fed green chop. Then the manure was loose. Very loose. I worked as a DHIA tester for a while too. Saw a lot of dairies. The cows were all fed alfalfa. I tested cows in their late teens that were still in the milk string and those cows were fed alfalfa all of their lives. I personally owned some very old goats, sixteen years old or more, and these animals were fed alfalfa from the time they were babies. However, if I had goats where I live now they would be getting grass hay because that is what is grown around here.

 

[chickenewbee]

I personally don't understand this fermented foods thing, in my day it was called silage, and it was for cows only, I had a pet sheep consume moldy silage and died a horrible death, I would not feed it to goats. And as for feeding alfalfa to horses, that's crazy too, fastest was to colic and other behavior issues, horses are called hayburners for a reason. Bermuda grass hay is good for horses, I would look for Timothy clover weed mix, that's what we bale and feed, I do forget that most people don't have access to what I do. Goats like leaves or blades of grass in there hay, not the stems.

Yep...see...different areas and different ideas. When I lived in Colorado horses only got good quality grass hay. Horses here all live on alfalfa, and I fed it for forty years without ever having a problem. They did sometimes get sore backs from the high protein content in first cut alfalfa, but that could easily be fixed with a Buchu tea mash.

It's sand colic (from eating off the ground) or eating too much grain that cause problems here. I kept my grain locked up inside a shed so the horses couldn't get to it without my help, and fed them in a covered feeder so they couldn't pull the hay out on the ground.

I think I'll look for something more like a timothy hay for the goats. I'm pretty sure TSC sells timothy cubes if I can't find it. I have to soak the cubes to make them soft enough for the goats to eat, but that's not the end of the world.

Or maybe oat hay...that is usually easy to find, and higher fiber and lower protein than alfalfa.

 

[cassie]

A large gut indicates a well formed Rumen, your goats look fine, I wouldn't be feeding goat pellets, and especially the alfalfa pellets, quickest way to kill a goat. Goats take two years to fully mature and even then they shouldn't be fat.

If alfalfa pellets would kill a goat I had a whole herd that should have been dead. I fed a lot of pellets. I knew a very large goat dairy (milking over a 1200 head), that fed a lot of pellets too. However, if you feed pellets to goats you have to also offer some sort of roughage for their rumens to function properly.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Cows get twisted stomach, milk fever, ketosis, to name a few that are caused by high protein diets in milk cows, it's done, yes, but it's not in the end a healthy diet for a pet, for a production animal that gets culled if it's not up to par is a different scenario than a pet goat. It would figure a Californian would try to tell a Wisconsinite the what what on dairy production, been out of it for almost twenty years, but still remember my business. And our DHIA testers just dropped off the measure tester things and left, came back the next day to pick them up.

 

[chickenewbee]

What you feed your goats depends on what you are using them for and what is available in your area. If you have milk goats they need high quality feed to produce well. I had a goat dairy for many years in central California. I was also employed as a milker on a cow dairy. The hay fed to California goats is almost exclusively alfalfa and the best alfalfa the owners can find at that. In fact I never met a goat owner in that area that did not feed alfalfa. The goats thrive on it. So do dairy cows. The cows there are most commonly fed alfalfa and corn silage occasionally supplemented with green chop. I have no idea what digestive upsets and health problems from feeding alfalfa you are referring to. I never saw any. The only time I saw really loose poop in the cows was when they were fed green chop. Then the manure was loose. Very loose. I worked as a DHIA tester for a while too. Saw a lot of dairies. The cows were all fed alfalfa. I tested cows in their late teens that were still in the milk string and those cows were fed alfalfa all of their lives. I personally owned some very old goats, sixteen years old or more, and these animals were fed alfalfa from the time they were babies. However, if I had goats where I live now they would be getting grass hay because that is what is grown around here.

Oh, well, that is helpful.

Can you share what you fed your goats?

And do you have an opinion on fermented alfalfa, and the condition of my goat (the first post, which was my original question.)

 

[chickenewbee]

Cows get twisted stomach, milk fever, ketosis, to name a few that are caused by high protein diets in milk cows, it's done, yes, but it's not in the end a healthy diet for a pet, for a production animal that gets culled if it's not up to par is a different scenario than a pet goat. It would figure a Californian would try to tell a Wisconsinite the what what on dairy production, been out of it for almost twenty years, but still remember my business.

now don't be yelling at me.

There are a lot of dairies out here, too.

There used to be four of them where I live, but two of them sold out and moved north when all the people came in.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What state are you in. Farms have disappeared all over the country, replaced by large factory farms, it's a shame.

 

[chickenewbee]

What state are you in. Farms have disappeared all over the country, replaced by large factory farms, it's a shame.

California. My property used to back up to a 100 acres of farmland....mostly oats or wheat, and it had been farmed for the last 100 years.

It's all houses now. My little area is still country, but there are people all around.

I really wanted to head to northern Nevada where there are fewer people, but so far it hasn't been possible.

 

[cassie]

Oh, well, that is helpful.

Can you share what you fed your goats?

And do you have an opinion on fermented alfalfa, and the condition of my goat (the first post, which was my original question.)

I fed my goats alfalfa. The grain I usually fed was COB meaning corn oats and barley. I would not use fermented feed for goats. The closest I have known anyone come to feeding fermented feed to goats was a lady who fed alfalfa cubes. Alfalfa cubes are a good feed for horses and cattle and they are often cheaper than baled hay and the quality is good. However the cubes are too big for goats and sheep. This woman would take the cubes, put them in a bucket and pour boiling water on them. Once it cooled she fed it to the goats. Worked great except you have to feed just what they will soon clean up. You do not want it to ferment because fermented alfalfa can cause bloat and all sorts of digestive upsets. I fed fermented mash to pigs, but I wouldn't feed it to anything else. You are just asking for trouble.