Organic Approach On Feeding Goats

[savingdogs]

Ours eat mostly hay and forage. Grain and pellets are more of a snack and tool for moving them around the pastures! We do offer the mineral and baking soda of course. I planted Buckwheat as a ground cover crop and that was popular, they loved eating that. Now that our females are pregnant we are giving them an increasing amount of grain. I also feed them BOSS as a snack at least every couple of days. They will eat raisins really well too and apple slices, but mine are pretty finicky other than that. I'd love to try all the things Freemotion is feeding, but I haven't learned how yet! But ours look pretty good.

 

[goodgirlmolly]

Hi Bob! I lived in Northern Maine for many years, and am in MA now, so our climates are similar.

I let my girls get most of their own food from the pasture all spring, summer, and fall. I supplemented the doeling with a bundle of leafy branches when she was closed up in a stall every night.

I give them pumpkins and squash that I glean from the local farms and store in my cellar. I sort the big ones every couple of days and run them through the slicing blade in my food processor. I start them on any new food with a handful twice a day, then gradually increase it, watching the poo. I back off if anyone gets clumpy. I get them up to about a quart each twice a day, about double that for the lactating doe.

I also plant lots of root veggies because they store well. This past year was so wet that my entire root crop failed, so I was more aggressive on getting pumpkins and squash. I fed the big pumpkins first, since they spoil more quickly. Now I am feeding the tiny orange pumpkins, since they are getting a little wrinkly and get a spot here and there, last will be some interesting yellow tiny pumpkins that are keeping really well and look like spaghetti squash inside.

Normally I have lots of rutabagas and other things. I plant carrots, mangels (fodder beets), beets, and rutabagas. Also kale, which can stay in the garden even under the snow and can give them something green into the early part of the winter.

I sprout whole grains, mostly barley, but also oats when I can't get the barley. At the just-sprouted stage, the protein level skyrockets and the digestibility does, too. I can get them to almost green, but then they get moldy. I have a different set-up now, so will trying for green again this winter. Even so, the grain is better for them soaked.

I feed soaked beet pulp daily, too, so they will have something that I can increase on days that I don't have time to mess around with all the veggies.

I ferment some different things using whey as an innoculant so they will have plenty of live probiotics. Haven't seen clumpy poo since starting this a year ago.

I bought one bag of the commercial pellets that my buck was used to when I bought him, and gradually switched him over to my feeding methods. He stopped getting any commercial feed about 10 days ago. About a week ago, his energy level gradually increased. I hadn't told my husband about the change, and he started commenting on the buck's behavior recently....how full of extra life he's been lately... "I thought he was going to climb that tree!" Hmmmm.....

I have mineral feeders with loose minerals, loose salt, block salt, and baking soda. Alfalfa and grass hay mix. Balsam xmas trees gleaned from a local farm for them to chew on.

My pygmies get no grain, and just a little beet pulp and a handful of veggies and only because I bred one of them recently. Otherwise, no supplemental feed for the Princesses Chunk.

I have deep deep respect for you & the way you feed your goats
Is it true also that feeding raw pumpkin also helps to keep parasites away?