# Feeding- I am so confused.



## ChksontheRun (Oct 24, 2010)

So I am new to goats.  We have 5 wonderful mini nubians (3 does, 1 buck, and 1 wether) that we have had now for 2 months.  When we first got them, we had plenty of browse and we were trying to tame them a bit as they had not been handled due to a family situation in their old home so we gave them all grain or black oil sunflower seeds every day by hand every day.  As the wether weaned, we milked his mama, and fed her grain in the stand, the others got a little grain by hand.  She has dried up, so now we are left to figure out the feeding situation for all and I am so confused.  There are so many opinions about feeding.  No grain for bucks, grain ok if it has the right ratio of Ca, hay only ok for all, BOSS ok, BOSS not ok......UG

So right now, we are keeping hay on hand for all- morning and night.  We also give about 3 cups of grain to them  together (out of 2 feeding bowls held by DH and I) keeping the boys away so that they only get a few nibbles.  They eat the hay up and would eat more if we kept it in there, but they are so round that we only fill morning and night.   Like  said, they are round, but you can clearly feel their hip bones and ribs so they are not fat.  Their conjuctiva are nice and pink, and poops are absolutely normal so not too concerned about worms.

They also just love BOSS so they get that almost daily by hand so we can continue to develop their friendliness.

How are we doing.  I wonder if there is enough nutrition in the 3rd cutting orchard grass hay that we give them, supplemented with a little grain and the browse that they can still come up with.  There are so many opinions on feeding that my head is spinning.    And now, we have 3 preggo does.  When do you start increasing their grain, and what do you give to supplement the selenium so we have strong healthy kids........

Oh, they are also eating lots of leaves as they fall, but that will be coming to an end soon of course and the browse in their pen is pretty much gone, only little sprigs of new growth that get eaten almost as soon as they sprout.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 24, 2010)

I would find out what most people do in your area. What I do for my goats may not be good for your goats. Plus it really comes down to you figuring out what is best for your personal herd. That is why you get so many different answers. What is good for even the goats down the road may not be good for yours. There is some trial and error no matter how much you want to avoid it.

I do give my males grain. They only get a little bit but they do get some every day. I also give them hydrangea root twice a week for UC prevention which I put in their grain to get them to eat it. I only feed my goats once a day but a lot of people feed twice a day. Comes down to what works best for your herd.


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## PattySh (Oct 24, 2010)

I have 11 goats right now.  I feed a mixed grass organic hay free choice. Generally have to fill hay feeders once or twice a day. I have several hay feeders spred apart so each gets easy access with compatible goats at the feeder. We use 1st and 2nd cut hay. During the summer they have browse almost every day but the wettest ones.  I have my buck and a wether in one fenced in area with a run in and they seldom get grain only on the coldest of days. They eat two or three good size flakes of hay together per day. The females and one wether that will eventually be in the freezer get unlimited grass hay and grain (sweet goat 16%) once a day for most of them (I'd say about a cup each for nonmilking ones) and more on the milk stand for those milking. The milking goats will consume about a qt or more of grain at each milking. Mine are full size goats with a couple of minis thrown in. Everyone is in good flesh. I usually add baking soda free choice as kidding approaches and until they are used to the spring grass. None of  them seem to need it during the summer/fall. I keep the water full at all times and use heated water buckets during the winter.  They also all get vegie trimmings, carrot, squash, lettuce, a bit of brocolli, celery, sweet potatoes. For an occasional treat dried cranberries, oatmeal cookies, leftover muffins are very much enjoyed in small quantities. I tried adding minerals when I first had goats and felt the milk tasted off.  All my goats look great.


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## ChksontheRun (Oct 24, 2010)

Thanks so much for sharing how you feed your goats.  I would love to hear what others do for feeding.


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## cmjust0 (Oct 25, 2010)

Free choice hay, free choice loose mineral, free choice fresh clean water, and bagged goat feed according to body condition.  If one's too thin, up it's bagged feed ration.  If one's too fat, no grain at all.  If one's OK, a little grain won't hurt -- but neither will no grain, most likely.  

If you find you're having to grain everybody because nobody's putting on any condition with hay, graze, browse, mineral, and water, double check the quality of your hay -- it might suck.  If it's good hay and your goats are still doing poorly without grain, double check the quality of your goats -- they might suck.

Especially watch grain and wethers..  Go easy on the BOSS with males, too -- it's high in phosphorus and low in calcium.  That's not a good combination for boys.


That's my $.02.


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## warthog (Oct 29, 2010)

Free choice hay, clean fresh water at all times, mineral block free choice, approx 12 hours browsing each day, and grain as and when needed.

Surplus veggies and fruit (mine love papaya skins and watermelon rind), but the little so and so's don't eat the fruit, just the skins.

Oh well that's goats for you.


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## Greendecember (Nov 29, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> Free choice hay, free choice loose mineral, free choice fresh clean water, and bagged goat feed according to body condition.  If one's too thin, up it's bagged feed ration.  If one's too fat, no grain at all.  If one's OK, a little grain won't hurt -- but neither will no grain, most likely.
> 
> If you find you're having to grain everybody because nobody's putting on any condition with hay, graze, browse, mineral, and water, double check the quality of your hay -- it might suck.  If it's good hay and your goats are still doing poorly without grain, double check the quality of your goats -- they might suck.
> 
> ...


I'm having trouble with the rationing. My Queen and her daughter are of course the first in line to eat. They are also getting fat. At first I thought Queenie was breed but now I think it is just a big gut. 

We just got them in September. They will eat out of my hand but catching them is an act of congress! We have 5 Pygmy / boer cross does. It took my husband and I nearly an hour to catch just one and struggle for hoof trimming saturday. We were so tired we decided 1 goat a day until they are trimmed nice and more tame. 

I have 2 troughs I fill each evening with a mixture of commercial goat feed from the local mill and alfalfa pellets. Sometimes I throw in some corn chops. They LOVE them. Their previous owner gave them some every other day. I am trying to cut them back on that some. I also have a white salt block and a "goat feed block" they have free access to. They don't like the "feed block" so well. It has survived 2 months LOL. When we bought the place there was a round bale in one of the pastures and we have been feeding them that when they can't browse. It is dry and looks weedy to me but I am new to the hay world. 

How do you decide how much ration a goat should get? Trial and error? Is there a general x cups to x pounds of goat kinda thing?

I can't separate them for feeding yet. I guess I could hand feed each of them their rations like I do the wormer pellets?


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## Greendecember (Nov 29, 2010)

warthog said:
			
		

> Free choice hay, clean fresh water at all times, mineral block free choice, approx 12 hours browsing each day, and grain as and when needed.
> 
> Surplus veggies and fruit (mine love papaya skins and watermelon rind), but the little so and so's don't eat the fruit, just the skins.
> 
> Oh well that's goats for you.


Haha then my goats will LOVE it here come watermelon time. My chihuahua LOVES watermelon and will do ANYTHING for it. It is a sight to see let me tell ya! And I love it too but all those skins can pile up. They are gonna be some happy goats next summer!


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## savingdogs (Nov 29, 2010)

Greendecember said:
			
		

> cmjust0 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We hand-feed the females their ration of grain. I give our wether a little bit of a treat of BOSS and alfalfa pellets when they get their grain so he isn't too left out, but I give him his very slowly so he thnks he is getting more.


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## warthog (Nov 29, 2010)

I have collars and leads for my goats and at feeding time they get tied up.

Before I did this, the herd queen would literally chase the others about hoovering up all the food, she would get fat the others were thin and stressed, not good.

So they all get a little grain morning and evening.  They are tied up in order of dominance and fed grain according to their needs.  

I have one feeding her kid at the moment so she gets more, one needs to put weight on, she has just weaned her kid, one 6 month old wether, who doesn't seem to like to much grain anyway, and one doe who is rather large who gets less, one 5 week old who literally gets a spoonful, so he can get used to what grain is all about, he usually just kicks it about.

When it comes to untying them I do it in reverse order, because if I let the herd queen off first she would just beat the others up.

It works for me.


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## ChksontheRun (Nov 30, 2010)

So what I have been doing that works really well, is...
I have 2 feeding buckets that I ration out their feed in, and the goats divide up into 2 groups to eat.  I am fairly sure each is getting a fair share.  In Bucket 1 on my left eat Amber--large preg mini nub. and Bridget--small preg mini nub.  On my right eat Uhoh--large preg mini nub and heard queen, Fritz--buck(intact but with the preg does) and Casper--wether.  Casper and Fritz take turns in the bucket as only 2 can get their noses into it at the same time and the queen would never dream of taking her nose out and she is a fast eater so she gets the lions share, so it works out pretty well.

Right now, there is only 2 cups of sweet goat feed in each bucket so it is not much.  The vast majority of what they eat is hay.  They are all round but with slight hip  bones showing so I think they are in pretty good condition.  They are coating up and seem to be staying warm so I am pretty happy right now.


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