diy goat feed?

[Suburbanfarmer]

I've been feeding my milker doe Purina Goat Chow. It's working fine, but it is on the expensive side and she picks through and only eats the oats anyway. I've been thinking about mixing my own feed.

I have 2 ND does (hopefully both preggers - will find out in the next couple of weeks). One is currently in milk. They both get alfalfa, free access to loose goat minerals and baking soda.

Does anyone else mix their own feed? Is it worth it? I would love any feedback and/or advice!! Thanks
-K

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I am trying to avoid corn and soy because of the GMO issue so I mix my own feed.

I do feed alfalfa hay too.

I use alfalfa pellets, though I am again going to reduce the amount because the pieces are so big and the girls are starting to eat around them again
Oats
Barley
Boss
and when needing extra calories I add calf manna

This helped Georgia one of my new does, gain condition while still milking once a day after having quads this year

I just got my first Boer goat Andy and I am not too confident in how I want to approach his feed yet as he is a baby, a boy, and a meat goat .....all my others are nigerian dwarfs so for now, he is getting half the above mix and half textured goat feed that unfortunately does have corn and soy. (And he is still on alfalfa hay for the moment....I will most likely cut that down by going 50/50 with a grass type hay soon.)

 

[that's*satyrical]

I am trying to avoid corn and soy because of the GMO issue so I mix my own feed.

I do feed alfalfa hay too.

I use alfalfa pellets, though I am again going to reduce the amount because the pieces are so big and the girls are starting to eat around them again
Oats
Barley
Boss
and when needing extra calories I add calf manna

This helped Georgia one of my new does, gain condition while still milking once a day after having quads this year

I just got my first Boer goat Andy and I am not too confident in how I want to approach his feed yet as he is a baby, a boy, and a meat goat .....all my others are nigerian dwarfs so for now, he is getting half the above mix and half textured goat feed that unfortunately does have corn and soy. (And he is still on alfalfa hay for the moment....I will most likely cut that down by going 50/50 with a grass type hay soon.)

I've read they are getting ready to ruin alfalfa & make it GMO too. Makes me sick. What are the percentages on your mix?

 

[SkyWarrior]

Lovely (about GMO). Montana is a GMO-free state. I wish other states would do the same.

 

[DAVIS FARM]

please try to feed only natural feeds...i feed only hay...but its available to them 24/7 everyday...they stay so fat on just grass and hays..i feed big round hay bales in the pastures so it cuts out all my everyday hassles of going out to feed everyday...all i have to do is keep fresh clean water out..i change out waters every 2 days...you just have to , to be able to never have to have a vet out..man made grains have so much chemicals added in, your just waiting for a bad accident to happen ..if you are going to feed anything besides grass or hays...just concentrate on whole corn..it fills a belly quicker than crushes grains..but make sure you dont feed much of it..in the winter it helps keep an animals gut warm which keep the animal warm during winter..i only feed corn in the winter if i have an animal needing weight on him..i only feed my animal just pure grasses and hays..the round bales can save your life..its great..and you dont have to feed everyday...its already out in the pastures...try and stay with the pure grains if you use them along with the grasses..no man made additives..and you will always have healty farm stock

 

[DAVIS FARM]

if you guys buy whole corn like i do you all will be fine...you buy it from you local farmwers in your town...nothing is added to it...or you can just buy the deer corn..all that is , is corn that hasn't been run thru the shift cleaner...meaning it has some bits like leaves and shucks..i dont like deer corn, but the deers eat it and they are fine..they pick out the good corn pieces and leave the waste laying on the ground...so do our animals..its frsh and local...but when my local farm store is out of cleaned whole corn..i just buy the deer corn grown locally..no drugs in it and its never got fungus in it..stay away from any grain that seem damp...damp grain will kill..any of it will..it will mold and kill

 

[ksalvagno]

You can always buy organic grain or find local farmers that don't spray their grain or use GMO. Do not just feed them corn. Depending on what you use your goats for will depend on if they can get by on just hay or if they do need grain. If you are milking and want the female to give milk to full ability, then you definitely need to feed a good quality grain.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I did hear that they approved a round up ready alfalfa....terrible news. Then they are going to wonder why all our farm animals are dying and have reproductive problems.........and more farmers are going to close up shop.......I also heard the big bad M advertising in my area for a high protein wheat...I am scared to think how fast they are contaminating every food source they can. And all for money.

Anyhow, for those that asked,

My last mix consisted of oats #50 (10% protein)
barley #50 (10% protein)
alfalfa pellets#50 (15% protein)
BOSS #20 (can't remember protein)

*calf manna #25 (25% protein)

The calf manna is being added only to Georgias feed right now....everyone else is officially a little bit over conditioned. On some paper somewhere....the estimated protein amounts are written down....I'll let you know if I find it....(I know that the protein content is only one part of the picture, but for now it's my main guide)

The boys are getting 1/2 the above mix with their other 1/2, the textured goat ration for now...I did just pick up an orchard mix hay to feed them, so they will get 1/2 alfalfa hay and 1/2 the orchard grass hay for now.


We are also just getting into some colder weather so I am trying to decide if I want to try and keep the calf manna in the mix or up the sunflower seeds......I guess I have to see how the cold weather affects everyone.

 

[Oakroot]

I have to strongly disagree about the corn for ANY animal. Corn is a man made hybrid grain. It is very hard to digest and very disruptive to GI systems for all animals. Barley, oats etc are much easier on their systems. If you have to feed grains to any animal you are so much better off going that way.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I agree with Oakroot and further, it is an old wives tale that corn helps to heat your animals.

From OSU...

"Producers sometimes talk about "hot" feeds and "cool" feeds. We must discern whether the discussion is about energy content or actual heat production. Corn and other concentrates are sometimes called "hot" feeds. This is in reference to their higher energy content compared to hay or straw (cool feeds). However, corn and other concentrates contribute less to the heat of fermentation or digestion than hay. Therefore cattle actually produce less actual heat when consuming corn than when consuming hay. Further increasing the concentrate portion of a feedlot finishing diet may lead to acidosis problems. "

http://beef.osu.edu/library/heat.html

We digress though

SuburbanFarmer,I was doing some talking to locals about feeding costs and made a few calls and did find out some stuff about mixing your own feed. The things is, you can reduce your cost a little and have your own mix created by a feed mill, but you will have a lot of up front expense and then have to have a way to haul it home and a place to store it. One of the locals I talked to said ordering it by a ton lowers it by about $1.50 per 50 pounds. I also talked to Michigan's Diana Langshaw, who amongst her hundreds of accomplishments (I swear she doesn't sleep), has a awesome herd of goats that she feeds her own mix but gets it in very large quantities and has a place to store it unbagged. But for most of us, we don't have that kind of space.

You could buy and blend a few bags of grains together in a trashcan, but your goats might pick through it and only eat what they like (whereas a milled feed had it all blended together so they can do that), and it is hard to get the right blend of nutrients doing that way. Not sure how much cheaper it would be either.

I signed up for Purina's email list and TSC email list and every few months do get some coupon's to use Of course, they also send me tons of other junk email too, but you will always know when they put their stale beef jerky on sale