fussy goat and feeding soya

[Marta]

ok Marta is fussy....too damn fussy for her own good. As its winter and she is pregs (I think) I have cut the grain down....barley. from 3 handfulls 2x per day to 1.5 handfulls 2x per day, she gets her squash and pumpkin thats about 2 small bowlfuls per day plus all her supplements ie minerals baking soda and salt etc, pea hay and long stemmed hey (she does not seem to eat much of that) but I noticed she was loosing weight.
she started the winter at about a scale 2.5 with nice fat covering her spine etc. but now she seems to be a 1.5,
I mentioned this to a friend on Christmas eve and he came back with a big bag of soya powder with all the vitamins you could hope for + calcium etc (I recon its milk re-placer) but anyway this farmer gave all his animals this and they are very healthy.
Anyway I have worked up to 1 table spoon in 400 mls of warm water 2x daily. and I give it about an hour before I give the grain in the thought that soya is 34 % crude protein and my mind works on this theory that if I gave it at the same time as the barley the DP would come right down. is this correct ???????

and am I ok to feed what I think is milk re-placer to a 10 month doe?
I want it for the vitamins and extra protein and calcium as there is very little chance of getting anything else.

 

[freemotion]

OK, I am pretty prejudiced against soy, but I wouldn't feed it. I would (do) sprout the barley instead to make it more available to her and increase the protein a bit. If you soak it with a glug of whey for the first day, it will be loaded with good probiotics, too. I've gotten weight on several critters now using this method.

Cheap and easy, and no thyroid and hormone disrupting soy.

 

[Marta]

thanks Ill try with the whey, I remember trying sprouted barley in the autumn, IF it sprouted she refused it so I stopped, for some reason it took for ever to sprout but 9 times out of 10 it would not sprout.

I must admit I do not like the idea of Soy as I seem to remember reading some where it could clog up the system

 

[freemotion]

Your barley was probably harvested in wet weather and dried with heat. That happens sometimes. It can also take several days to sprout....it varies from bag to bag for me. When I can buy it right from the farmer, I can tell him I want to sprout it, and he knows which barley will sprout and which won't. I get 100% sprouting when I can do this.

If it doesn't want to sprout, soak it 24 hours with water (filtered if you have chlorinated, as it will kill the probiotics) and a glug of good whey drained from yogurt or kefir. Then rinse it twice a day in non-chlorinated water if possible. It will smell sweet and slightly yogurty. Even if it doesn't sprout, it will be more digestible and the starches will be about twice as available as unsoaked grains.

For one little goatie, you can make a bunch and freeze it, or simply figure out how much you need and get a new batch going a couple of days before the previous batch runs out. It depends on the temp as to how long you can keep a batch going without souring or mold. Trial and error! The chickens do well on this, too.

Sour isn't necessarily bad, either. It is another stage of good bacteria....as long as it smells pleasantly sour, like sour cream or the sour of yogurt, and not "bad." You will know.

 

[Marta]

sorry for not replying been very busy with digging up new peach trees for the spring, Ive forgotten what real work is lol, I will try that and see if the farmer has some good grain, even the milk we have will not separate at the moment lol its been in the window for about 6 days and still looks like milk, Iv3 tried putting apple vinegar in it but nooooope so when it does Ill sprout some grains Ive taken her off the barley and just giving her oats and wheat mix 2 to 1 handfull. she started eating it at long last, but I must say her tail end is looking healthier and her sturnum has got a nice fatty layer now....well its well padded