completely clueless on getting right diet! Could use hints.

[no nonsense]

Freemotion, Why no molasses? I thought this would be could because it's high in calcium.

One person's opinion is not fact. Molasses is very good for goats. If you haven't noticed, most dairy sweet feeds contain molasses. It's good to add it to the water during the end of pregnancy to help prevent ketosis, and it's a useful aid in enticing goats to drink more water, when moving to a new farm, while at a show, etc.

 

[helmstead]

It's not the molasses that is a problem with goat feeds, it's the cob mix being sweetened by the molasses LOL. This is why I don't recommend sweet feeds for goats - they're usually high in corn and have improper Ca/Ph ratios because they use a cheap cob base...and most people aren't going to research that all out before they buy, so they go buy some crappy all grain and, well...we all know the eventual ending here.

I keep black strap in the goat medicine cabinet all the time, and use it as needed for MANY different things from dosing meds to water additives to putting some on pellets when I have a new animal or an animal who's a little off feed in the end stages of pregnancy.

 

[mully]

Also notice that most high potency energy drenches the main ingredient is molasses. Molasses has many nutritional benefits.

 

[cmjust0]

We've got a bottle of Brer Rabbit in the goat medicine cabinet.

 

[Roll farms]

My husband got in trouble for using my 'goat molasses' on his breakfast toast.....:/

 

[dkluzier]

: :

That's so funny! The closest we've come was having to get out the goat pepto cause we were out in our fridge, not by accident.

 

[dkluzier]

On the subject of feeding goats grain though... my nephew had boer bucks that someone had given them and in conversation at a family picnic I asked how they were doing. He said "I lost them all" I sadly asked "what happened?" He told me that someone told him that he had overfed them. He was feeding them 2 scoops of grain, twice a day. Not little scoops but the big feed scooper size that probably holds 3 cups!!! Twice a day - each!!

We feed our goats varying amounts depending on their life events and nobody gets much more than 1.5 cups of grain at a feeding, that's the lactating does who are still feeding their kids too.. we offer free choice hay all year since our pasture is lacking in the high forage that the goats prefer. We will be working on planting some nice grasses and bushes this coming Spring. In the meantime I also cut branches mostly pine to supplement.

As long as they don't bloat and their poops look good, they will continue on the same feeding.

 

[cmjust0]

We only supplement to condition.. If they start getting chubby, they get cut back. If they start looking thin, they get bumped up. Unless you know the nutritional content of whatever hay or forage they're taking in free-choice, and unless you know how much exercise they're going to get from day to day...week to week...month to month...we've found that it's just really hard to be able to say "Ok, they're going to get two cups a day from here on out."

I feel just behind their shoulder, over their ribs.. I like for them to have just a bit of fat there. Not much...just a bit! If a goat's got no fat there, they get some extra grain. If that doesn't start helping pretty quickly, they get a little more until they start getting a little spongy there.. When they put a little fat on, we start backing off the extra grain.. Some goats are more...stable?...than others. The less stable goats gain fast and lose fast, so it seems you're always adjusting their feed a bit one way or the other.. The more stable ones gain slowly and lose slowly, so you can be a bit more consistent. Totally depends on the individual goat you're looking at.

Feeding this way is definitely more trouble than feeding X lbs or cups of grain per day, but I do think its more efficient in the long run.. Fat and skinny goats alike are each expensive goats to keep, in their own ways.