They don't seem to like the coastal...

[goatgurl]

my goats (dairy) don't like coastal either. my neighbor bales our hay meadows and it's just mixed grass hay and they eat it like it was good but since all he does are round bales i have to buy square bales to feed in the barn during bad weather and they are real picky about it. I've learned to buy one bale first and bring it home to see if they will eat it. if they do i buy more, if they don't i keep looking. yes southern they are brats. nothing i take to the barn is safe from them

 

[SheepGirl]

Just an FYI to go back to the OP... alfalfa is actually good for males, esp if you are feeding grain because it ups the calcium in the ration. Having a 2:1 calciumhosphorus ratio helps to prevent UC in intact male small ruminants. Basically that means, for the total ration (everything the goat eats--hay, grain, grass, browse, etc), there needs to be at least 2x the amount of calcium as phosphorus. Alfalfa is high in calcium which helps the calcium to phosphorus ratio.

 

[Moody]

Unless you really control what and how much they eat (and I have no idea how much phosphorus is in the oak, elm and brush they eat) that would be a hard ratio to figure, right?

My two males (one a wether and one a buck) are still both 6 months old and under so should I continue to give grain until they are grown, then cut back to just hay until right before rut?

This is where they live now

I will move the boys to a 16x32 in the wooded area here very soon

And this in maybe a year would be ideal for the boys. I'm afraid the girls, being that I want them for milk, could damage their udder in such a briar filled zone.

 

[Moody]

Is this yaupon? I had to look it up to see what it looks like. I don't think I have seen it but I am not good at plant identification. I saw some pale berries on it before. The branches have big thorns.

 

[Mike CHS]

I didn't think Yaupon have thorns but I have been wrong before.