hay mix

[mdoerge]

This is my 2nd year with goats and I am breeding my two Nigerian does this fall. I have always just bought a grass mix hay, but have located a farmer with a second cutting alfalfa, orchard grass, timothy mix. I know the alfalfa and orchard grass are good for the goats, but what about timothy?

 

[ksalvagno]

timothy should be fine. My hay has some timothy in it.

 

[trestlecreek]

Yep, timothy is okay.

 

[cmjust0]

Our goats love timothy.

 

[kimmyh]

The mix is fine, straight alfalfa is better.

 

[cmjust0]

Straight alfalfa, if it's good, can be as high as the lower-mid 20's in terms of protein percentage, and the Ca ratio is about 6:1. If you mix in some quality grass hay in the right proportions, it brings the protein down into that seemingly magical 16% range and throws quite a bit of phosphorus in to get the Ca ratio down to around 2 or 3:1...right where you want it.

Alfalfa/grass mix is also typically a fair bit cheaper than straight alfalfa.

That's just my opinion, though.

 

[kimmyh]

cmjust0 I have tried the route you are recommending, and here on my farm it killed 2 goats before I figured out the problem and went to straight alfalfa. Since then, no problems. Grass hay does not have enough calcium to support good fetal growth (IMO) and if you check the links I posted in another thread about this exact same subject, you will see my reasoning.

 

[cmjust0]

cmjust0 I have tried the route you are recommending, and here on my farm it killed 2 goats before I figured out the problem and went to straight alfalfa.

So...what did you determine to have been the problem, exactly?

I would go check whatever other thread you're talking about, but there are a few thousand threads here..

 

[kimmyh]

Because I feed grain, using grass/oat hay for one feeding threw the cal to phos numbers out of wack. Since I threw away all of the other types of hay, I have not had a UC problem. Unfortunately, I still hear of others who are not feeding straight alfalfa, some people get away with it for a few years, and then wham, a dead buck/wether.

Feedablity/protein values http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/33/4/228.pdf

Calcium values http://www.guinealynx.info/hay_calcium.html

Also, when I researched clover in hay, the recommendations I saw were for cattle, as clover is hard to dry, and goats are less able to handle the fermenting clover.

 

[cmjust0]

Because I feed grain, using grass/oat hay for one feeding threw the cal to phos numbers out of wack. Since I threw away all of the other types of hay, I have not had a UC problem. Unfortunately, I still hear of others who are not feeding straight alfalfa, some people get away with it for a few years, and then wham, a dead buck/wether.

But we were talking about alfalfa/grass mix hay -- not straight grass.. Weren't we?

I was, anyway..

A decent 50/50 alfalfa/grass mix hay should be right in that 2 or 2.5:1 Ca range. Not sure how feeing a good alfalfa mix could throw off a Ca ratio when it carries the correct ratio itself...

Also, when I researched clover in hay, the recommendations I saw were for cattle, as clover is hard to dry, and goats are less able to handle the fermenting clover.

I don't feed fermenting anything to my goats. The grass/clover I've been getting -- and have always gotten, frankly -- is always nice and dry.