Pregnant Nigerian Dwarf...How Much Grain to Feed?

[Blooming chicks]

She is very cute! When everyone is saying 1 cup, does that mean 1 Lb? Mine preg doe gets 1 Lb/day in the last month of pregnancy. That is what the breeder said to do. She is a full sized LaMancha, not a miniture goat.

 

[cutiepieacres]

I have pygmies and my girls dont need grain when pregnant they are all in good weight and healthy but they love it so pregnant or not all girls get about 1/2 cup each at dinner. They do need grain when nursing it takes a lot to feed those babies. But especially at a stressful time you dont just want to throw a bunch of grain at them all at once and expect that their body just accepts it when they arent used to that amount. In the last month or two of pregnancy you can work them up to a resonable amount for nursing not increasing the amount more than once a week so they slowly get used to a bit more each week. I feed my girls about a cup to a cup and a half per doe per day when they are nursing babies, my girls are all small so a bigger doe may require more.

 

[UrbanMama]

Here's the ironic thing...from what everyone is saying, she should be getting about 1 cup or less. Well she only ate half of the food that she was given last night (2 cups because it was before the answers I was given here) So now, I don't know if I should be pleased or worried! She ate what she needed....but if she was happy/healthy wouldn't she just eat and eat?

Here's the other thing....I couldn't find the same feed the man had been feeding her.

So I bought what my feedstore had (the nutrient breakdown I posted earlier)

Also...the man I bought her from was feeding sweet feed to the babies there. I'm not sure if the adults were getting some too...maybe she is just being picky because it isn't sweet?

I'm making a tractor supply run on Friday and will buy the oats and alfalfa cubes then to suppliment...

I'm a total newbie at this and just really want the best for her.

 

[ODS-n-ENS FARM]

Maybe she only ate 1/2 of what you gave her because she is adjusting to new home. She also may have been tired,what a busy day for a goat.

 

[UrbanMama]

That's what I'm hoping.

Not to mention, she apparently likes oak leaves (which she was chomping on) and she had a coupld of carrots.

 

[pipermark]

The breeder I purchased my mini-lamanchas from and the other breeder that I purchased my Nigerians from both shared the same information with me.

1. Free hay or forage (means always available), I told them I wasn't intending to charge the goats for the feed and they offered me the definition in parenthesis above, so I thought I would share

2. Goat builder block - has all the nutrients and minerals for goats.

3. a cup or less of goat chow for the does and young. I use Purina.

They both pretty much let the bucks thrive on the hay, forage and goat blocks.

http://www.killcravings.com/Gallery/index.php?cat=0 , you can see some of the goats here, as you can see I have been following their instructions and they are doing well.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
kelley, just so you know..oak leaves are kinda not good for goats...i know its hard to keep them away from them, and mine get ahold of them anyways..(their pen in sort of in the woods). but yeah, i read somewhere that oak leaves are posion to them in large quanities...and i reallllly would not give her much treats right now (i.e. carrots) because shes having a total change in food AND hay right now....you dont want to risk her getting bloat....and also get the probias i told you about, it will help her tummy.

good luck with the baby! p.s. did you EVER weigh out 2 lbs of feed yet? i want to know how many cups that is.... HURRY UP!

 

[ODS-n-ENS FARM]

How is everyone adjusting?