BOSS

[Renegade]

In the area of 2:1 is best for goats. If anything give higher Ca NOT higher P. High P is what causes UC and goats can take higher amounts of Ca but not higher amounts of P.

Exactly. Thank you Straw Hat.
Anything lower then 2:1 is never recommended for goats. You usually will not see a problem when feeding high phosphorus to does but when fed to bucks/wethers it's a disaster waiting to happen whether it's 1:4 or 1:13. Since BOSS is a natural product each bag will vary with it's analysis but will always be too high in phosphorus.

Donna

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

In the area of 2:1 is best for goats. If anything give higher Ca NOT higher P. High P is what causes UC and goats can take higher amounts of Ca but not higher amounts of P.

Exactly. Thank you Straw Hat.
Anything lower then 2:1 is never recommended for goats. You usually will not see a problem when feeding high phosphorus to does but when fed to bucks/wethers it's a disaster waiting to happen whether it's 1:4 or 1:13. Since BOSS is a natural product each bag will vary with it's analysis but will always be too high in phosphorus.

Donna

I agree. I'm not sure about all this 4:1 and 1:4 stuff but to make things simple. IDEALLY goats should have 2:1 Ca to P ratio. It's ok and fine to have more Ca in their diet (that's why Alfalfa is so good for them and does not mess with goats even though it's real high in Ca) but it is not ok to have higher P. As said above, does can take more of it but it is still not ideal but for bucks it is very dangerous to have high levels of P in their diet. So if feeding BOSS be SURE you can balance it out because that ratio is a disaster waiting to happen. And if you feed very little feed (as I do) and only grass hay (as I do) then BOSS is the worst thing in the world for you because you have no way to balance it out and your goats will get UC and could die.

 

[Renegade]

I thought it was 2:1 that we are shooting for?

So is a higher calcium better than higher phosphorous?

Recommended is 1:4 to 4:1 and goats can tolerate up to 7:1. Per goatworld.com

I went to Goatworld and what I found was:

Feed rations that contain a calcium to phosphorus ratio of at least 2:1 (up to 4:1) and never below 1:1
High calcium diets are effective at reducing absorbtion of phosphorus from the GI tract



Donna

 

[DonnaBelle]

Donna,

What do you feed your wethers?

Also, at what age do you wether them?

DonnaBelle

 

[Renegade]

Hey DonnaBelle,

I pretty much deal exclusively with show and breeding stock so it's been forever since I've had a wether. When I did I used the same ADM Meat Goat feed I use now.

Donna