How much to feed? And frozen water tips?

[oppida]

We have 2 Boer goats and 3 Pygmy goats and this is our first winter with goats.

Our pasture is totally covered in snow and won't be thawing anytime soon. We normally let them eat the pasture and gave them grain at the end of the day when the pasture was dry.

I'm wondering if I'm feeding them enough now.

We've been giving them two large flakes of hay (not alfalfa) a day and some grain. Is that enough? If I go based on their behaviors, they gobble up the hay and scream for more every time I walk out and see them. Not sure if they are really hungry or just see us and automatically think "food!".

Also, do you have any tips on keeping their water from being frozen? We have a warmer you stick in the water, but one goat ate through the extension cord on the heat lamp (thank god it wasn't on at the time) so I'm wary about putting the warmer in. Right now, I'm bringing a pot of hot water out to the water bucket every morning to thaw the ice. Our temps are no higher than 20 degrees during the day and in the negatives at night, so the water is constantly being frozen...

Thank you!!!!

 

[Stacykins]

My goats are too far away to feasibly run an extension cord out. What I do is in the morning, with a rubber mallet, break the ice in their water buckets. The buckets are the black rubber ones, so this is easy. I fish out the big chunks, then fill the bucket with some warm water. It stays open most of the day through the action of them going for a drink on a regular basis. I think removing the ice is what helps the most. In the evening, they get some more warm water when I close them up for the night.

 

[PendergrassRanch]

I break the ice in the morning but I've seen people put a smaller tub into a large tub and fill the space between with horse manure. The manure keeps it warm enough to not freeze, or they stack it up against the sides of the tub. I've never tried it though. I've thought about it but never tried it LOL.

Also, to prevent them from eating cords, we cover the cord on the ground with 2x10 boards and then run the cord through PVC pipe so they can't get to it. We have a cord going to a heat lamp in the chicken coop. The barn does have electricity but its old and we want to redo it before we use it.

 

[SheepGirl]

If you have a ball in the water it helps prevent it from freezing.

And goats require 3% of their body weight in feed daily for maintenance. So if your goats are 80 lbs, they need 2.4 lbs of hay. (80 x 0.03 = 2.4) If any of your goats are pregnant, lactating, or growing, they will require more.

I always weigh my feed (hay & grain) so I know how much I'm giving my sheep, which require 2% of their body weight in feed daily for maintenance. With snow on the ground, I've been giving my sheep 6-10 lbs of hay per day, but they don't clean it all up. I attribute that to the fact that they are getting 1/2 lb of grain each. (Well except for today and tomorrow--the adults will be getting 1/4 lb of grain each and then no more for them until late gestation.)

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I found a neat plan to build a solar heated water tank and I really want to build one. They used a corrugated roof tile, plywood, foam insulation, and a metal water tank, and even tracked the air temp versus water temp to see how much a a difference it made. I bet you could try a smaller scale version of it too.

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/SolarHorseTank/SolarHorseTank.htm

As far as the feed goes, a cup or two of feed per day is plenty but I would be giving them more hay. I fill our hay feeder up daily with all they will eat.

 

[oppida]

Thanks everyone!

Based on some calculations, I think I need to give them one more flake.

I'll look into a better set up for the water! That solar idea is a great one. A good project for my DH

In the meantime, I'll just keep bringing a pot of hot water out and breaking up the ice...it does make it easier when it comes to cleaner water. Normally chicken crap gets in the water no matter where I put it, and I was having to carefully trek to our creek, which is almost frozen solid and brave falling in to get a new bucket of water....(we don't have running water in the pasture area) Now I just keep adding new water and it seems to keep the water cleaner...


Thanks again!!!!

 

[oppida]

If you have a ball in the water it helps prevent it from freezing.

And goats require 3% of their body weight in feed daily for maintenance. So if your goats are 80 lbs, they need 2.4 lbs of hay. (80 x 0.03 = 2.4) If any of your goats are pregnant, lactating, or growing, they will require more.

I always weigh my feed (hay & grain) so I know how much I'm giving my sheep, which require 2% of their body weight in feed daily for maintenance. With snow on the ground, I've been giving my sheep 6-10 lbs of hay per day, but they don't clean it all up. I attribute that to the fact that they are getting 1/2 lb of grain each. (Well except for today and tomorrow--the adults will be getting 1/4 lb of grain each and then no more for them until late gestation.)

What kind of ball? Like a tennis ball? Soccer ball? I use a standard sized plastic bucket for water right now, since I have to change out the water so often...

 

[SheepGirl]

I have a toy plastic golf ball in my 2 gal bucket and a toy plastic basketball in my 9 gal bucket. Just whatever floats and doesn't take up too much room

 

[OneFineAcre]

I definitely think you need to feed them more hay.

If you have water warmer, I think you could come up with a way to protect the cord.

Never heard that about the ball, think I'll try that.

 

[lovinglife]

I am going to use a heated bucket and run the cord out the wall so they can't get to it, of course I only have two goats....