Cheaper way to feed?

[Goatmasta]

Look at this thread . I also have a few standard size goats that I estimate @ 4x the Nigerians.

 

[arabianequine]

I know a breeder/dairy in my area who only feeds Hay and water, loose minerals and her her goats looks awesome and milk very WELL. Milkers get grain 2 x aday on stand.

They have pasture 24/7 i should say she feeds top quaility hay. I have bought 2 animals from her and have been very happy with them.

So yes Hay and water does work....

That is all I have been doing since mid May and loose minerals.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

I know a breeder/dairy in my area who only feeds Hay and water, loose minerals and her her goats looks awesome and milk very WELL. Milkers get grain 2 x aday on stand.

They have pasture 24/7 i should say she feeds top quaility hay. I have bought 2 animals from her and have been very happy with them.

So yes Hay and water does work....

I think the areas in bold are the key here... the vet I spoke with today, initially said just hay and water, and then mentioned how curious goat are, so you could offer a round bale of straw... Nothing about supplementing with mineral, or ever giving goat feed. I think this is poor advice to give to someone who may just be starting out... and it might explain the number of goats I have seen this year in NH that are underconditioned.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

A 50 lb bag of whole oats is around $12-$14 here... that's actually more expensive than the quality pelleted ration we feed. BOSS is off the charts expensive right now. Heck, even straight corn is nearly as much as our pelleted ration. How one can manage to feed a goat for 10 cents per day is beyond me, at least in my region.

 

[Roll farms]

Yeah....my goats aren't getting 25$ a bag BOSS anymore, either.
And god bless ethanol and this wet spring that kept the farmers out of the fields. 9.50 for 50# of corn is outrageous...I was getting it for 3.50 a bag 2 yrs ago.

eta: The only goats being grained here right now are the 'skinnies' (3 Nubs who need to gain) a/o those being 'flushed' for breeding soon. Everyone else is just getting hay. They have a 2 acre lush pasture, they can go BE GOATS if they're hungry and browse for their food.
(At least that's what I keep telling them when they whine about the 'no grain' rule).

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Yeah....my goats aren't getting 25$ a bag BOSS anymore, either.
And god bless ethanol and this wet spring that kept the farmers out of the fields. 9.50 for 50# of corn is outrageous...I was getting it for 3.50 a bag 2 yrs ago.

eta: The only goats being grained here right now are the 'skinnies' (3 Nubs who need to gain) a/o those being 'flushed' for breeding soon. Everyone else is just getting hay. They have a 2 acre lush pasture, they can go BE GOATS if they're hungry and browse for their food.
(At least that's what I keep telling them when they whine about the 'no grain' rule).

We're doing the same with our dry/open does. Go! Browse! Seriously! They're still getting plenty of alfalfa which is keeping them plenty fat without grain. I spend far more on alfalfa than I do on grain...

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

How one can manage to feed a goat for 10 cents per day is beyond me, at least in my region.

That quote was just for grain fro one doe I think. I'd have to double check. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Re-figured it out for today's prices and it costs me about .20 a lb (which each doe in milk get's between 1-2lb a day, depends on if I'm feeding them alfalfa at milking time or no) I bet when I quoted that, the original figure I had in mind was just for the barley, which is often all I have on hand. Or I'm am really horrible at math. I like to have everything all figured out and I can keep it accurate for things like what I spent for a year cause I write every transaction down, but we talk about this other kind of math, estimating etc I think I make a number of mistakes. Sorry, I am learning not to put down exact figures unless we're talking about the exact amount already spent because I forget things, or just plain ol get the math wrong.

We recently figured out that Barley grass fodder is THE cheapest way for us to go in feeding our animals every day, when they can't be on the pasture. I don't want to give out any numbers because I can't remember exactly all the percentages (all based on assumptions as well, we have no idea if our animals we eat the only 10%-15% of their weight that the websites said, and we don't know if our barley will have the same sprout to grass ratio as theirs does so the exact figure we won;t know until we actually get this system up and running) but I do remember the costs were CRAZY low! Under $5 a day for sure! Maybe I'll re look those figures up and someone else can double check my math . But if you can do that then I would definitely go with it!

ETA:

Ok here is figures I quickly gathered online again, this is all based on assumptions that your system will provide the same amounts etc, so I am going to go ahead and guess a little higher/lower to be safe.

According to the first website I clicked on 10lb of dry barley creates 65lb of barley grass. Lets say 50lb to be "safe".

According to another website each animal eats 10-15% of it's body weight a day. Let's say 20%.

The average Nigerian Dwarf (what I have and so figured for) weighs around 75lb. Very few of my 12 (now 11 actually gave one away today) goats I think only 5 are anywhere close to that weight (rest are all very small for their age or are yearlings/babies. One, maybe two possible over it, so let's say 80lb.

20% of 80lb is 16lb. So 16lb a day of grass per goat. 16 goes into 50 3.125 times, so since we're already rounding high/low lets just keep it around 3. So 10lb of dry barley feeds 3 of my goats for 1 day. I buy barley for $5 for 50lb ($10 if I buy here in town instead of at the farm almost 2 hours away from me) so that is 10 cents to feed 3 goats. Round my goats back up to 12 and that is .40 cents a day to feed 12 Nigerians for 1 day If I figured everything correctly, and thoe figures off of the websites are realistic. PLEASE double check my math!!! Not including the small amount of hay I would still give them and the grain for milkers. Also not including costs for electricity, gas, water etc etc.