# 700-800 pound bale



## KWAK (Jul 5, 2013)

How long will a round bale weighing aabout 700-800 pounds last 7 goats?
2 are kids under a month old, and there mom who is a miniature Lamancha.
1 is a toggenburg an 1 is an alpine.
2 are nigerian dwarf does.


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## AshleyFishy (Jul 5, 2013)

Until it gets wet, too old, pooped on or made into bedding. I found square bales and pelleted hay works a lot better for goats. Goats just waste so much hay.


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## Rocco (Jul 5, 2013)

In theory it should last a good while...but goats don't abide very well by our theories. If you put the entire bale out, unprotected, they may only eat as little as 50% of the bale with the rest going to waste (as pointed out above). If there is a way to do it, store the bale away from the goats and the weather, and just fork out the feed for the day. You'll get a lot more of the bale in them that way.

As far as amounts and how long it should last, this depends somewhat on the type and quality of the hay. For instance you can feed a lesser amount of alfalfa than coastal bermuda to get the same net effect.


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## SheepGirl (Jul 6, 2013)

Goats require 3% of their body weight in dry matter each day for maintenance (not breeding, pregnant, lactating, or growing). Goats will require more if they're being productive (producing babies, milk, or growing).

I'm not sure how much your goats weigh, but cumulatively, let's just say they weigh 550 lbs. So 550 lbs x 3% = 16.5 lbs of DM needed to be fed daily. Hay is anywhere from 80-90% DM. Let's just say it is 85%. So 16.5 lbs / 85% = 19.4 lbs of hay needed to be fed. Let's just round that up to 21 lbs to account for waste pulled out of the feeder (this is assuming you pull out this hay on a daily basis to feed your goats rather than putting the bale out for them...when my sheep are penned up during winter I do buy round bales and pull out the amount of hay they need because it's cheaper than feeding square bales on a $/lb basis).

So a 700 lb bale will last your goats, who need to be fed 21 lbs of hay per day, about 33 days. An 800 lb bale will last about 38 days.


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## OneFineAcre (Jul 6, 2013)

SheepGirl said:
			
		

> Goats require 3% of their body weight in dry matter each day for maintenance (not breeding, pregnant, lactating, or growing). Goats will require more if they're being productive (producing babies, milk, or growing).
> 
> I'm not sure how much your goats weigh, but cumulatively, let's just say they weigh 550 lbs. So 550 lbs x 3% = 16.5 lbs of DM needed to be fed daily. Hay is anywhere from 80-90% DM. Let's just say it is 85%. So 16.5 lbs / 85% = 19.4 lbs of hay needed to be fed. Let's just round that up to 21 lbs to account for waste pulled out of the feeder (this is assuming you pull out this hay on a daily basis to feed your goats rather than putting the bale out for them...when my sheep are penned up during winter I do buy round bales and pull out the amount of hay they need because it's cheaper than feeding square bales on a $/lb basis).
> 
> So a 700 lb bale will last your goats, who need to be fed 21 lbs of hay per day, about 33 days. An 800 lb bale will last about 38 days.


I think SheepGirl has it about right.


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## elevan (Jul 7, 2013)

That info would be great to have in an article SheepGirl


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