Basic goat feeding

[20kidsonhill]

We grain our does, for 3 weeks before exposing them to a buck, then again 3 or 4 weeks before kidding and during nursing(8weeks). Then they are either on pasture or hay. and always free-choice goat minerals. In a good year they are on pasture from May to NOvemeber here in Virginia.

OUr kids are kept on grain and hay until sold or until they are around 15 months old, but not everyone keeps them on grain this long.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

well... i have two saanens that are about 2.5 months preg. and they get 2 cups grain each and free choice hay and the about 5 acre pasture that lately has been under a foot of snow and hasnt been touched in a while (because they hate snow )

 

[Greendecember]

I'm hoping to have plenty of area for them to graze and forage that they don't become money pits... If that's even possible! I'm thinking about the possibility of a round bale and just peeling off what they need. That's what we do for our horses. It's a pain, but it saves a lot of money.

Does anyone ever turn their goats out to forage outside their pen? Will they come back to their house in the evenings?

We plan to let ours roam most of our 5 acres soon as we have better fences. It is sectioned off into 2 different pastures, the barn yard, a smaller pasture (still not sure what the difference is in a pasture and a paddock LOL), and the yard for the house. They are not allowed in the yard for the house mostly because I don't want them on my new car hahaha. That said, I have let them out a few times just to get some better play time. As long as I leave the barn yard gate open they go right back at the slightest spook they don't like.

I've never left them out longer than I was with them though, save the couple of times they let themselves out LOL. They are usually back to the barn before I notice though. I have bottle babies now so I am out there at least every 3-4 hrs.

On the feed, I'm new to this too but as the above poster said Grain seems to be more of a supplement to nursing, pregnant, or growing goats. I mix alfalfa pellets in with their grain so it stretches it some. Their last farmer fed them corn chopps. THEY LOVE CORN CHOPPS. Don't feed them a lot of it. Mostly as a treat and never whole corn because from what I understand it can break their teeth.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Dairy goats do seem to beable to handle having grain during pregancy better than a meat goat breed.

You are asking for kidding problems feeding your doe grain during her entire gestation, unless you have her preg. checked and confirm there are triplets, you are better off to hold off on the grain during the middle of her pregnancy to keep a possible single from getting too big.

I have seen on BYH more than onse a big single on a dairy doe and how hard a time the dairy doe had, better off risking a set of smaller twins than loose your doe to a huge single. All the grain(calories) are going to the kid.

Good quality hay, and minerals are so important to your gestating doe.