Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[chickendales]

Dairy goats are fed grains, not grass. They are pricey to keep! Just warning you, and you will be at their mercy-- no late nights out and no vacations. You have to be there to milk, unless they are dry or have a kid. Grain prices are astronomical right now. You can get horses for free around here-- because no one can afford to feed them! I've been slowly getting down in size-- I had 7 horses, and have slowly worked my way down to 3. Still, that is $400 a month. Then you buy your supplements that go in your grain, hay (which is running $80 a bale for round). Three horses eat a bale a week and a half. Sigh. Four acres isn't enough to row for hay. It won't even support one horse, hardly because I'm guessing the house takes up an acre or so of the land. You need 2 acres a horse for it to support a horse, and then it can't be weeds, it must be brome, prairie (less protein) or some other grass that is high in protein. My 7 acres is barren with only 3 horses. Sheep are easier! LOL

ahhhh, very true! Sigh. The coyotes here are baaaaaaad, too.


oh yikes. I don't think I need the hassle of Buff. BBS has enough challenges to it. Cuckoo is so pretty, but sounds like that is a nightmare as well. Blah. Just as well, I need to stick with what I'm doing and just do it better.

dairy goat do just fine on hay and grass if there not being over produced

 

[ChicksNherps]

Dairy goats are fed grains, not grass. They are pricey to keep! Just warning you, and you will be at their mercy-- no late nights out and no vacations. You have to be there to milk, unless they are dry or have a kid. Grain prices are astronomical right now. You can get horses for free around here-- because no one can afford to feed them! I've been slowly getting down in size-- I had 7 horses, and have slowly worked my way down to 3. Still, that is $400 a month. Then you buy your supplements that go in your grain, hay (which is running $80 a bale for round). Three horses eat a bale a week and a half. Sigh. Four acres isn't enough to row for hay. It won't even support one horse, hardly because I'm guessing the house takes up an acre or so of the land. You need 2 acres a horse for it to support a horse, and then it can't be weeds, it must be brome, prairie (less protein) or some other grass that is high in protein. My 7 acres is barren with only 3 horses. Sheep are easier! LOL

ahhhh, very true! Sigh. The coyotes here are baaaaaaad, too.


oh yikes. I don't think I need the hassle of Buff. BBS has enough challenges to it. Cuckoo is so pretty, but sounds like that is a nightmare as well. Blah. Just as well, I need to stick with what I'm doing and just do it better.

dairy goat do just fine on hay and grass if there not being over produced

I just want one dairy doe and a wether. Not a whole herd

My friend runs a dairy goat farm, so I want to see if I can use her buck. I just plan to get one horse too. The cost for keeping a horse around here averages $150-$200 a month which isn't terrible, and that's buying all the hay. We're still thinking up ideas so nothing is solid yet.

 

[Hawkeye95]

dairy goat do just fine on hay and grass if there not being over produced

If it's good prairie that is seeded out, then possibly. But because I've grown up FFA and 4-H, I know our dairy's have to have more supplement to improve weight and milk. Especially since they are producing, calf manna, etc also needs to be added in. At our fair this year, the best goats were fed nearly all of their dietary needs by grains. Grasses were supplemental, and inconsequential since we are in drought. Even our project meat goats are the same way-- grain fed. Oh, and these aren't mine-- I'm not saying "me" and trying to make it sound like I'm doing this personally. Our club does both market/meat goats and dairy and sheep. As a project, we go to their homes, and we have talks about what to feed them, how much, what kinds of grains, how to yield better meat, more milk, etc. It's a fantastic opportunity to learn, and then of course, I sit in on meetings with the county market group that does market animals like swine, bucket calves, meat goats, etc.. It's really fun. But they can not live on grass alone, no. Or I suppose they could, but they would be terrible producers and it would be a terrible thing to do to them. It can also have a lot to do with the area of the country you are in, and what your fields will yield during the year, too and if it could really sustain them. I have a pretty good understanding since I'll be taking over my dad's ag farm at some point. We have both pasture land for cattle and ag land where we grow grains, beans and corn.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I just want one dairy doe and a wether. Not a whole herd

My friend runs a dairy goat farm, so I want to see if I can use her buck. I just plan to get one horse too. The cost for keeping a horse around here averages $150-$200 a month which isn't terrible, and that's buying all the hay. We're still thinking up ideas so nothing is solid yet.

that is dirt cheap for horse care... WOW! Hopefully that includes their farrier, too. We are at $8+ per square bale of brome-- 100 bales should last you thru the winter with one horse. You might want to see how much chicken math comes into play when you get all of that space and see what you money for! LOL A friend of mine moved out to the country and now she has like 400 birds-- and spends something like $70 every single day in feed!

 

[chickendales]

If it's good prairie that is seeded out, then possibly. But because I've grown up FFA and 4-H, I know our dairy's have to have more supplement to improve weight and milk. Especially since they are producing, calf manna, etc also needs to be added in. At our fair this year, the best goats were fed nearly all of their dietary needs by grains. Grasses were supplemental, and inconsequential since we are in drought. Even our project meat goats are the same way-- grain fed. Oh, and these aren't mine-- I'm not saying "me" and trying to make it sound like I'm doing this personally. Our club does both market/meat goats and dairy and sheep. As a project, we go to their homes, and we have talks about what to feed them, how much, what kinds of grains, how to yield better meat, more milk, etc. It's a fantastic opportunity to learn, and then of course, I sit in on meetings with the county market group that does market animals like swine, bucket calves, meat goats, etc.. It's really fun. But they can not live on grass alone, no. Or I suppose they could, but they would be terrible producers and it would be a terrible thing to do to them. It can also have a lot to do with the area of the country you are in, and what your fields will yield during the year, too and if it could really sustain them. I have a pretty good understanding since I'll be taking over my dad's ag farm at some point. We have both pasture land for cattle and ag land where we grow grains, beans and corn.

both my 4h moms raise dair goats for 40 years they they give all hay they can eat and pasterur really one grain once a day may be twice , goat can get bloat from to much grain

 

[Hawkeye95]

both my 4h moms raise dair goats for 40 years they they give all hay they can eat and pasterur really one grain once a day may be twice , goat can get bloat from to much grain

Exactly. I'm so used to this stuff, I forget to be specific. Yes-- grains in the morning and at night. Hay during the day. Not only bloat, but colic, founder, etc.. But if you read the bag-- it says how many pounds of grain to give your animal per pound of body weight. Then you divide that up am/pm. And depending on if you are meat or dairy, you then supplement with your vitamins, calcium, etc on top as a top dressing.

But that doesn't meant you stick the poor thing out in a pasture and hope for the best and never supplement the animal at all.

 

[ChicksNherps]

that is dirt cheap for horse care... WOW! Hopefully that includes their farrier, too. We are at $8+ per square bale of brome-- 100 bales should last you thru the winter with one horse. You might want to see how much chicken math comes into play when you get all of that space and see what you money for! LOL A friend of mine moved out to the country and now she has like 400 birds-- and spends something like $70 every single day in feed!

Exactly. I'm so used to this stuff, I forget to be specific. Yes-- grains in the morning and at night. Hay during the day. Not only bloat, but colic, founder, etc.. But if you read the bag-- it says how many pounds of grain to give your animal per pound of body weight. Then you divide that up am/pm. And depending on if you are meat or dairy, you then supplement with your vitamins, calcium, etc on top as a top dressing.

But that doesn't meant you stick the poor thing out in a pasture and hope for the best and never supplement the animal at all.

I know they need grains and supplements

But I am going to let them roam as well to forage what they want. I don't plan on giving my horse much grain, I have my eye on a mustang that's for adoption and after asking around about the average monthly bills for people who own horses around here, one horse costs roughly that much. Hay is a lot cheaper around here, about $5 a bale. If I can at least grow some hay it will cut down on the price too. But yeah anyway back to chickens! hehe

I want to get some meat birds, as well as have my small silkie breeding project. I can't go chicken crazy

 

[aoxa]

that is dirt cheap for horse care... WOW!  Hopefully that includes their farrier, too.  We are at $8+ per square bale of brome-- 100 bales should last you thru the winter with one horse.  You might want to see how much chicken math comes into play when you get all of that space and see what you money for!  LOL  A friend of mine moved out to the country and now she has like 400 birds-- and spends something like $70 every single day in feed!  

We go through 6 bags every 2 weeks. That's roughly $7 a day and we have somewhere around 100-150 birds. I don't want to count. We have so many chicks right now that I've sworn off incubating until spring.

Last count before considering the chicks we had 101 birds.

I think $7 a day is not bad at all! They are free fed as well. We top off feeders at night and they are almost gone by the time we do chores the following night. I have switched to pellets because they were wasting far too much when I was feeding them crumble.

 

[thedragonlady]

Quote:
See my page for a buff that took 5 generations to get. She was buff to the skin, with black skin and comb. The judges appreciated that. Interesting that her father, grandfather, great grand father, great,great grand father, and great,great ,great, grand father was a very good WHITE.The same cock bird for 5 generations!

 

[thedragonlady]

Quote:
Have you priced really good alfalfa lately? In the 70s THRU the 80s I was feeding New Mexico irrigated alfalfa which cost about $200 a ton then. Heaven knows what it is today, and the freight would be horrendous. My herd of Nubians had one of the highest herd averages inthe S.E.They got unlimited alfalfa, unlimited good brouse, and 20% protein feed twice a day. Not cheap, but each doe averaged over a gallon a day on DHIR test.THAT'S ABOUT 2800 LBS OF MILK IN A 305 DAY PERIOD from each doe.