How much grain is too much?

[aggieterpkatie]

Ok, to clarify... Two girls came from a farm where they were dam raised and the herd only got browse and hay, no grain. The other two sisters were bottle fed and VERY human spoiled, no grain either. Both breeders said that they should be started on grain. I brought them home a week apart. They have free choice hay 24/7, browse loose in the yard 2-5 hours a day, and Dumor goat pellets with BOSS mixed in once a day. They share about three cups of grain and one cup of BOSS. Their bellies have grown considerable in the couple of weeks they have been here. I have to contribute it to the grain, since they had not had it before. Being a horse person, I know how dangerous overfeeding can be. But they seem "starving" when I bring them their grain. Although horses will do the same. I will take some pictures and post them.

Usually grain won't make their bellies bigger (unless they're bloated from too much grain), it will increase body condition all over. The large bellies could be due to a few things, like worms or just large, well developed rumens from digesting all the browse and hay. The amount of grain you are feeding doesn't sound like enough to make them bloat to me. You may want to get a fecal done to see what their parasite load is.

 

[20kidsonhill]

Ok, to clarify... Two girls came from a farm where they were dam raised and the herd only got browse and hay, no grain. The other two sisters were bottle fed and VERY human spoiled, no grain either. Both breeders said that they should be started on grain. I brought them home a week apart. They have free choice hay 24/7, browse loose in the yard 2-5 hours a day, and Dumor goat pellets with BOSS mixed in once a day. They share about three cups of grain and one cup of BOSS. Their bellies have grown considerable in the couple of weeks they have been here. I have to contribute it to the grain, since they had not had it before. Being a horse person, I know how dangerous overfeeding can be. But they seem "starving" when I bring them their grain. Although horses will do the same. I will take some pictures and post them.

Being that they are young and growing, you really don't need to worry bout over feeding them a good balanced goat grain/pellet. Your major concerns would be males should be closely monitored, especially wethers, since they can get Urinary calculi, and you don't want to make any major feed changes too quickly. Your 3 month old growing doelings really could have all the goat grain they want, if you gradually increased it to that point. With that said, i don't think it is really needed in your case.