# Thinking about mixing my own goat feed.



## wannacow (Jun 13, 2011)

I have a nubian doe in milk and a 5mo nubian doeling.  I have been feeding purina goat chow, simply for the fact that  it is the only feed I can get around here that can be fed to a milking goat for human consumption.  They are going thru it rather quickly and the feed store isn't always reliable with new shipments.  So, I think I will mix my own.  I have some questions as to what needs to be in it.  

Sweet horse feed
BOSS
beet pulp (what does "soaked" mean?)

What else do I need for full nutrition.  I have the goat minerals too.  Another reason not to feed the premix.  The minerals are already in it and I'm throwing away the minerals they don't eat.  I feel like I'm paying for heavy minerals to just throw away.


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## elevan (Jun 13, 2011)

I believe that there are some posts on here already that address this topic...you might want to try a search.

Do you have a feedmill nearby?  If you take the nutrition label from the feed that you're using in and tell them that you want to create a mix that has that nutrition analysis they can create a mix for you.  Each feed mill is different on the amount of feed that you have to buy for a custom mix...my mill is 500#


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## Ariel301 (Jun 13, 2011)

A lot of people feed a sweet feed, there's various names it falls under--it might be called COB with molasses (corn oats barley), or something like 4-way, All-Stock, or just Sweet Feed. You could add in some of the beet pulp if you like. A lot of people recommend soaking the beet pulp in water before feeding, as there are claims that it will either cause animals to choke on it, or it will swell up inside the stomach and cause it to burst. Both are myths, but there's no harm in soaking it anyway. You can top-dress the feed with the sunflower seed if you want to give them a little extra something. Alfalfa pellets are a nice addition too, my goats really like them. 

With goats in milk, you want about a 16% protein mix, with ideally twice as much calcium as phosphorus in it. You'll want to be sure they're getting plenty of selenium and copper as well.


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## elevan (Jun 13, 2011)

Here's some more information for you:  http://goat-link.com/content/view/98/85/


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## AlaskanShepherdess (Jun 13, 2011)

Here is the link I go to when developing my feed mixes. http://landofhavilahfarm.com/loh-feed-regimen.htm


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## Our7Wonders (Jun 13, 2011)

Like COT above, I used LandofHavillah for my starting point.


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