Let's Look at our Different Feeding Practices *GOATS*

[Queen Mum]

wet cob means it has mollasses. The reason for diarrhea is often the animals eat too much at once or their system isn't used to it or there is too much molasses in the mix. You have to introduce anything kind of gradually. Moderation, moderation...

Most goats LOVE bananas. They also love oranges. Dried banana peels and dried orange peels are a great treat for them. And dried apples and dried pears and dried... Just no pit fruits...

 

[Mzyla]

Just no pit fruits...

Do you mean no BIG pits like in plums/or tiny pits like in the apples?

My goats are getting fresh apples often and they seems to love it!

What I noticed lately - they are crazy for a dry cat food.

Every night I left a cup+ of dry food for my 2 barn-kittens. On a morning all was gone....
I was wondering; how these two tiny kittens manage to clear it all these food to the last crumb?
Then I spotted my goat climbing on a "cats table", pushing the kittens and crunching on their food!

Is this something I should stop it, or just let them eat?

Goats are plumpy, shiny and healthy.

 

[Queen Mum]

By pit fruits I mean Big pits - plums, apricots, cherries, peaches. Poisonous to goats. Keep them away from the trees if you can. the wilted leave can be really poisonous as well. The green leaves and fully dried leaves are ok, but the wilted ones can kill the goat.

NO CAT FOOD. Bad goats, naughty goats! It won't kill them or anything. It's just not good for them. And can make the milk really icky tasting.

 

[KinderKorner]

I live on Southern IL / MO border.

Pretty humid here all year around. We do have a couple hot dry months in summer. Cold winters with snow. Lots of mud, all the time except middle of summer. haha. Got to love the midwest. Went to bed last night with an 1 or 2 of pouring rain. Woke up in an inch of snow above a layer of mud. The weather here is crazy! It was in the high 50s on christmas.


Here the does and kids get free access to grass pasture all year around. I can't remember off the top of my head what mix it is. But it has a little of just about everything around here. Orchard grass, clovers, timothy, weeds. We off free choice minerals to all goats. It's just some local goat mix. We picked the highest copper we could find. The general doe herd does not get grain except for treats and every once in a while. (Our goats are over weight because of rich grass) Kids get fed grain once a day, and does while being milked. As much as they want while milking. It's a medicated show goat ration pelleted with 18% protein.

In the winter they also get hay. Whatever we can find. Usually a grass alfalfa mix.

Bucks get hay all year around, and in the nicer months go out to pasture everyday for a few hours. They get grain once a day. We use those 44 or 32 oz mcdonalds cups and they usually just get a cup or two.

We give Bose to all kids, and once a year to everyone. CDT same as Bose.

We worm as needed, and after birthing. We use ivermectin injectable, and we give it orally.

We give red cell, and probios and stuff such as that as needed.

We try to make our goats as healthy as possible without packing them with medications and routine treatments. They live off of grass, hay, water, and minerals mostly here. And they are all fatter than they should be. I could never see giving the does grain everyday. We already battle with weight. I think it's a mix of the kinder breed, and our rich midwest grass though.


Of course they get branches and treats and stuff as well.

 

[Dreaming Of Goats]

The farm I lease from is in Southern, CT, I don't know the region We raise 15-20 oberhaslis, about 8-12 milking.

Does: A cup of locally mixed goat grain a day when dry, unlimited while in milking stanchion. And about a flake or so a day per goat in the winter, no hay in the summer. And always 8 acres of browse/pasture.

Bucks: A cup of grain per day during winter, and a flake of hay a day. During summer no grain/hay, just browse.

Kids: Bottle-fed fresh milk per parents, about 2 beer bottles a day (The nipples attach to them )

ETA: They always have a white mineral block, and sometimes get loose minerals added to grain, however there are also sheep so we must be careful.

 

[Dreaming Of Goats]

Oh and when I am working with or I just want to spoil the goats, I can give licorice flavored goat treats to them which they LOVE and will do anything for, or some un-popped kettle corn from a local orchard that gives it away for FREE, which is almost always good!

 

[wmroth]

Elevan in your initial thread you said that you give BoSe 30 days pre-kidding. How do you do that? Injection or oral? Where to you get your BoSe?

 

[elevan]

Elevan in your initial thread you said that you give BoSe 30 days pre-kidding. How do you do that? Injection or oral? Where to you get your BoSe?

Bo-Se is an RX drug and only available by prescription. So you'll need to contact your vet, I just purchase prefilled syringes as needed from my vet very inexpensively. It's given via injection. I give it IM as instructed but I know some who give it SQ.

 

[wmroth]

Thanks. That is what I thought. My vet will not give Bo-Se. She says that free minerals and feed should be enough

 

[elevan]

Thanks. That is what I thought. My vet will not give Bo-Se. She says that free minerals and feed should be enough

My advice would be to find a second vet. There are many of us here who utilize a couple of vets for various purposes. Some vets are better at certain things than others.