can goats eat cantaloupe?

[cmjust0]

It SEEMS as if you are lumping together the people who are only feeding garbage with the people who are occasionally feeding fresh veggies and fruits. And it SEEMS as if you are saying that people who are feeding fruits and veggies do not care about or want what is best for their animals...I hope I just have the wrong impression here.

My wife chucked a small watermelon out of the garden over the fence to the goats yesterday.. They love it, rind and all. I'll occasionally grab a pumpkin and toss it over onto a rock so it busts open...they love those, too. I've heard that pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer, and I know folks who grow pumpkins just for their goats..

I don't see the harm in it, so long as you're not going "No hay for you today...here are 25 pumpkins instead!" I'd probably feed more of them myself if not for the fact that we have a resident wether in that herd, and pumpkins are high in phosphorus/low in calcium..

My dear husband's name is Justin. His brother is Jason. EVERYBODY around here mis-calls him Jason because he is the younger brother. It really creeps him out when we go places (like on vacation - staying in hotels and the like - and people call him Jason. Weird.

It's almost like everytime someone calls you the wrong name, it leaves this little psychic energy stamp on your forehead, ever so slightly improving the legibility of the wrong name to everyone else's intuition.. If you get called the wrong name enough, I swear that little psychic tattoo begins to manifest in a snowball effect, feeding on itself..

It is weird.. :/

 

[kimmyh]

I think the whole point here is captive goats (goats that are not give hundreds of acres on which to browse/wander) are subject to the good/bad feeding regime of their owners. A consistent diet for a captive goat is healthier, than table scraps. If people want to feed scraps they might be better off buying a pig, or chickens. Just as dog owners have by and large discovered feeding people food to their dogs is not a good thing, many goat owners are discovering it is far cheaper to throw that table scrap in the trash, than it is to doctor a sick goat. Will there be those people who insist on using their goats as garbage disposals, absolutely, just as there will be a host of others who want to do what is best for the animal.

Umm...WOW, just WOW!

I think feeding fresh fruit and vegetable matter occasionally is a whole different matter than what you are talking about where people are only feeding their goats "table scraps" (incidentally, IMO, table scraps are not fresh fruit and vegetable matter, table scraps are bits of leftover tuna and cheese sandwiches and half-eaten frittatas- which I do give to my chickens every now and then but wouldn't CONSIDER giving them to goats, but I digress). I am not sure how you made the jump from one to the other.


It SEEMS as if you are lumping together the people who are only feeding garbage with the people who are occasionally feeding fresh veggies and fruits. And it SEEMS as if you are saying that people who are feeding fruits and veggies do not care about or want what is best for their animals...I hope I just have the wrong impression here.

It takes 2.5-3 weeks for a goat to build the proper bacteria in its gut to properly digest a new food. I have never heard of anyone feeding table scraps/left over vegs a little every day for 2-3 weeks to help the goat build the necessary bacteria. Since that is the case, throwing this and that at them seems ill advised too me. A treat, well I'm all for treats, and the safest treat is something they are already eating-hopefully goat food.

Your impression is indeed wrong, if you are taking offense at the simple facts I have presented. But don't take my word for it, call your vet and ask if this and that, here and there is GOOD for your goats. Don't ask if they can survive the thing you are thinking of giving them, ask if it will help them thrive, because isn't that what we all want?

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

I think the whole point here is captive goats (goats that are not give hundreds of acres on which to browse/wander) are subject to the good/bad feeding regime of their owners. A consistent diet for a captive goat is healthier, than table scraps. If people want to feed scraps they might be better off buying a pig, or chickens. Just as dog owners have by and large discovered feeding people food to their dogs is not a good thing, many goat owners are discovering it is far cheaper to throw that table scrap in the trash, than it is to doctor a sick goat. Will there be those people who insist on using their goats as garbage disposals, absolutely, just as there will be a host of others who want to do what is best for the animal.

Umm...WOW, just WOW!

I think feeding fresh fruit and vegetable matter occasionally is a whole different matter than what you are talking about where people are only feeding their goats "table scraps" (incidentally, IMO, table scraps are not fresh fruit and vegetable matter, table scraps are bits of leftover tuna and cheese sandwiches and half-eaten frittatas- which I do give to my chickens every now and then but wouldn't CONSIDER giving them to goats, but I digress). I am not sure how you made the jump from one to the other.


It SEEMS as if you are lumping together the people who are only feeding garbage with the people who are occasionally feeding fresh veggies and fruits. And it SEEMS as if you are saying that people who are feeding fruits and veggies do not care about or want what is best for their animals...I hope I just have the wrong impression here.

It takes 2.5-3 weeks for a goat to build the proper bacteria in its gut to properly digest a new food. I have never heard of anyone feeding table scraps/left over vegs a little every day for 2-3 weeks to help the goat build the necessary bacteria. Since that is the case, throwing this and that at them seems ill advised too me. A treat, well I'm all for treats, and the safest treat is something they are already eating-hopefully goat food.

Your impression is indeed wrong, if you are taking offense at the simple facts I have presented. But don't take my word for it, call your vet and ask if this and that, here and there is GOOD for your goats. Don't ask if they can survive the thing you are thinking of giving them, ask if it will help them thrive, because isn't that what we all want?

Thanks so much for your help. I do appreciate the information. You are obviously knowledgable...

 

[freemotion]

I hope you still give those drooling goaties that cantaloupe.

Mine got green bean ends, carrot peels and ends, brocolli stems, apple cores, and chard stems, all chopped up, today in their feed. Earlier throughout this week they got more of the same, along with drop pears and apples, asparagus, brussels sprouts, a cauliflower center, cooked pumpkin peels, and who-knows-what-else. We eat excellent, healthy food in our house, and our scraps are mostly organic and wonderfully healthy foods. No white bread or processed garbage. No one can convince me that the rumen differentiates between the above vegetable matter and what they eat all day long: grass, clover, dandelions, birch, maple, touch-me-not, raspberry leaves, multiflora, goldenrod, and who-knows-what-else.

Sure, if your goats only get dry hay and processed feeds, maybe the sudden appearance of a large chopped apple each could throw them for a loop. Even so, I cannot see that distributing that same apple to 3-4 healthy goats, even on a "dry" food regimen, can be dangerous or harmful.

Hasn't hurt mine in over a decade. Use common sense.

cmjust0, (Notchris!) you have to admit, your brother's first name is somewhat common, and your first name is rather unusual....both start with the same letters, and both one syllable. But pretty interesting that strangers call you Chris, too! How about this, I will call you Chaz, and let's see if anyone calls you that now.....

 

[broke down ranch]

You know what mine like? Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower plants! When mine were done for the year we pulled them up, rinsed all the dirt and buggies off (I do not use insecticide) and threw them in there. I swear, they went so crazy for that yummy crunchy stuff that my herd queen sounded like she was BARKING at the other girls while running them off it. Was quite comical to watch!

I think garden stuff is OK in moderation. Like when we run out of hay and money I will go cut a bunch of swiss chard, stuff that down in their hay bag and they love it as much as their hay. Maybe it's not the "proper" thing to do but my goats don't get the runs, none of them are starving and none have died. So I guess I'm not screwing up too badly....

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

free motion and broke down ranch....

You guys obviously do not love your goats.

 

[broke down ranch]

free motion and broke down ranch....

You guys obviously do not love your goats.

Obviously. You can tell by the way I trip over the little beasts when I walk into their pen that my lack of love is returned in full....

 

[kimmyh]

It is not about how much you love your goats. Most of the men who beat their wives love them. It is about understanding how a goats rumen works. Sure throw this and that, it probably won't kill the goats-and after all, like small children who will over eat candy, the goats like it.

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

It is not about how much you love your goats. Most of the men who beat their wives love them. It is about understanding how a goats rumen works. Sure throw this and that, it probably won't kill the goats-and after all, like small children who will over eat candy, the goats like it.

I appreciate the information. I really do. It is something to definitely think about. But likening feeding your goat a few bites of cantaloupe to a man beating his wife is, frankly, outrageous and inappropriate.

Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but using it to beat someone over the head is usually not affective.

 

[broke down ranch]

I honestly have to wonder how our forefathers ever managed to raise goats without Purina. I would be willing to bet that what the pigs and chickens didn't get the goats and cows did. I give mine a "normal" feed but I do treat them with garden stuff (not cooked kitchen scraps) which gives them a little something extra to look forward to.

As long as someone uses moderation (key word there) then garden scraps would probably actually be good for them. It certainly shouldn't kill them unless the plant is toxic to begin with. But I don't believe I have heard of anything dying from eating cantaloupe peelings. Worst thing I would worry about is them eating the seeds then little sprouts of cantaloupes everywhere...oh wait, I'm gonna run out and feed them some seeds right now! LOL!!