feed

I am from the foothills of NC. We have dogs, cats, and I work closely with a friend that has Chickens. But the main reason I am here is we have 3 Quarter Horses and I am wanting to learn all I can.

Hi, all! My name is Ross and I am new to this group and the goating world (WOW, there’s a lot to learn!!!!). My wife and I purchased two female Nigerian Dwarf goats and we are in love. We named them after our favorite beaches, Rosemary and Alys! I am constantly looking for information and...

Hi all, I've heard you should introduce feed changes slowly when you get new goats and i want to make sure i am giving enough grain to keep her in milk. Right now I'm giving her dumor sweet feed, alfalfa pellets, a handful of boss, as well as Timothy hay, and sweetlix magnum milk minerals. I've...

A family member is gifting me a pregnant, lactating Jersey cow that is very small and I’m having a hard time figuring out how much supplemental feed I’ll need for her. I’ve never had a cow, let alone milked one. We have about an acre of grazing space but how much hay/feed should I expect to...

Hi everyone, so I have a friend who wants two pygmy goats and wishes me to house them. I have also been planning on adding Nigerian Dwarf goats to my farm and thought it would be a good idea to get them all at the same time so I can have a decent size herd to start and no one will get lonely...

I have 5 wethers and 1 doe, ranging from 2-5 years old. I got 4 out of 6 of them when they were 8 weeks old, and the other two I got when they were just a day or two old as bottle babies. Ever since I got them from their breeder's, I have been told to keep them on grain. Lately, I just feel like...

Question re: leaving standing grass in the winter. Should I be mowing what's left of the grass, maybe just before the first snows, or leaving it standing? Ie, if the sheep aren't going to eat the tall yellowed grass, is it better to mow it down when/before the snow comes, so that there's...

I have my sheep in 2 separate fields at the moment, and am not sure if/when I need to start supplementing them with (eg) additional hay/grain, etc. I plan to breed a bunch of them in about a month, so I know I need to flush them - I've already started with a bit of grain supplementation, and a...

Yikes, So my Grandfather came up to me yesterday and told me he had a friend who's having a hard time keeping his two pet sheep, And was wondering if I could take them in? Now, I've never raised sheep before, Just pigs, Horses, and Goats.. What are they like? What type of housing do they need...

So guys, hi! I just need some info for a project... What to feed bottle babies? What to feed mom while pregnant and with her foal? What to feed weanlings? What to feed newly bred mares? What to feed yearlings? What to feed two year olds? What to feed 3 year olds? What to feed stallions? What...

I've read that some people feed their expectant Nigerian does for about 6 weeks prior to kidding. Is this something y'all do? If so, how much do you feed? Part of me is worried about getting singles too big but I don't want tiny multiples either. Any advice is appreciated. I'm more familiar with...

We have herd that consists of two Shetland wethers, two female goats, one buck and two horses. They are all in the same pasture (hopefully by next summer we will have more fencing up and can separate them out. But for now it is what it is. Nobody is on grain, they are all on pasture with hay for...

Long story. Will try to make it short. Lol. We rescued a piglet who is now about 8 months old. When we got her she was malnourished, underweight, and half dead. We let her live in our garage under a heat lamp, fed her food we Vitamixed for her, gave her antibiotics for her respiratory infection...

Hey, I am getting my 2 nigerian dwarf wethers this weekend. I already have a pen off to the side of the yard for my chickens. It is pretty big, so I built the goats a shelter on the opposite end of the chicken coop. The goats will be let out of the pen every morning. Most mornings I will leave...

I have a herd of 7 Nigerian Dwarfs. 2 kids, 4 does (1 still in milk) and a buck. All of them are 3 years old or less. We have had them on hay but want to switch to pellets because we are struggling to find good hay where we are at. My questions are: 1. How much to feed per day, per goat? 2...

Opened my cracked corn bag to quite a surprise, a live mouse was in it! went to grab a rubber mallet and come back and smash it but it got away. i looked closely and discover a hole chewed through the bag.... i then discovered more holes in the horse grain, rabbit pellet, and chicken feed...

Does anyone grow browse plants for their goats in the Arizona desert? If so, what shrubs/trees do you grow and which grow best with minimal water? We have a pretty barren dust patch out here aside from all the native mesquite and I was thinking of planting some other things for the goats to...

Having always wanted a Goat as a pet I finally have time and space to have one. I got her from a local goatherd at 2 weeks after her mother rejected her and bottle fed her until she was just short of 4 months. Now she eats cereals and pasture. I have just managed to obtain a mineral block for...

Hi everyone! We just brought home our first mini donk last night. He is 6 month old and a real sweet boy. I live in SW FL and the 1 acre pasture he is in does not have much grass for him to forage on. I have a lot of trees and they shade out grass, plus our sandy soil doesn't grow much anyway...

Hello!! Newbie here. Just decided we were going to start a homestead and embark in a new journey of acquiring some fainting goats and some chickens....to start off. Anyone have any good advice or pointers we'd be greatly appreciative. Decided the best thing to do was gather info before we take...