This is all you guys' fault! Now I need help with feeding stuff!

[lupinfarm]

Okay, awesome. I ordered that goat book anyway, there appears to be lots of information in it from the looks of the index. I wish storeys made a goat book just for pets lol, and not dairy or meat.

I'll look into getting the goat medicine book, although we have 2 vet school text books downstairs that my mum ordered a while back, cost a small fortune, but have been very helpful.

Any fruits or vegetable that are okay for goats? Should I supplement alfalfa hay if i can't get pure or mostly afalfa hay with alfalfa cubes or pellets? We fed alfalfa cubes to my horse a long time ago because of his heaves.

 

[lupinfarm]

I have some round electric rods and insulators I can set up. I havent had any problems with predators here and we leave the dogs out late into the night all the time. They will have a light on them all night, and during the day the dog is out guarding the chickens and ducks.

 

[trestlecreek]

I'm pretty sure the Storey's goat book is the one I have and didn't care for!
I have a lot of vet books here, but what I have so far does not compare to the goat medicine book. For goats, this one exceeds all others.

Goats need the long stemmed hay for proper rumen function. If you end up using the Noble goat or purina show goat(both good feeds), they have ground alfalfa in the pellet.

Nope, I wouldn't give my goats any vegetables or fruits.
When you get your goat book, look at the section that explains how the rumen works. Goats build up microbes in the rumen that "eat" the food that the goat eats. These microbes multiply only as they adjust to a feed. They are coded specifically for specific feeds in certain amounts. So, if you give them a food they they have not ate before or in amounts they are not used to, the microbes can not 'eat' the food up and the food becomes toxic(poison) to the goat.
In other words, a goat has a very touchy digestive system. They need to eat the same feed/amount each and every day to keep them functioning optimally.
Hope that helps explains why I say "no treats".

 

[lupinfarm]

Sure does! Thanks for the information I'm definitely going to hit up my purina dealer (I was asking about purina feeds because our pony is on purina feed, and the chickens and ducks are too so buying from one place is helpful for me and economical!)

I wasn't impressed that they didn't offer a Storey's book for just the backyard herd of goats rather than fitting them into categories. The life of a dairy goat owner and a pet goat owner is remarkbly different in the sense that a lot of the milking information doesn't apply all the time to the pet goat owner. We might get into dairy in the future, but for now, we figured the pygmies would be a good start. My cousin had 3 pygmies when they lived in England (they've since moved to New Zealand) and they were very easy keepers for them. They named them Nanny Jeanne and Nanny Joan after our great aunts LOL, my auntie jeanne was pleased, auntie joan not so much.

 

[trestlecreek]

Yes, all of my feed is purina!! Goat, rabbit and chicken. I like the one stop shop too.

Yep, I've had primarily pygmies for almost 14 years. They are cute, fun and for me, easy to keep. I have had the bigger breeds, but I really like the miniatures the best.
Of course I like my miniature rabbits and miniature chickens too!! LOL!! Must be something to it!

 

[lupinfarm]

OH, hoof care, how often do goats need their hooves trimmed? We're on well drained land so hoof rot and the like shouldn't be a big problem here.

 

[cmjust0]

Hoof trimming intervals depends a lot on the terrain and the individual goat.. Just pick a foot up every now and then and you'll sorta come to know when to whack a little off the edges. It's not rocket surgery...I promise, you won't need a voodoo shaman to get it right.

The only word of advice I'll offer is that I'd go lighter on the grain for the buckling, just because of the risk of urinary calculi. Been there, doing that, don't have my tee shirt yet. If you can't find grain that's formulated at least 2:1 Calcium to Phosphorus with added Ammonium Chloride, don't feed it to the buck at all.

Congrats, btw.

 

[lupinfarm]

Oh we aren't getting the buckling, I had thought about it but in the end decided on just the nanny and doeling

The pasture they'll be on eventually is rather rocky, and hilly (it's in front of the house, we don't use it for horses because it's too rocky) and it will be fenced in later this year. Over the winter they'll spend days with the pony if all goes well (they're in with a pony, horse, and donkey right now most of the time) on the big pasture, we also have a smaller buck fenced/electrified pasture for them to go in and the barnyard will be fenced soon too.

And thanks! You know I've been ooling over all the cute goat pictures on here, and adorable goat housing. We'd originally planned to fence in and look in the spring, but I saw the ad and we decided to check it out since they are reasonably priced, small, and family raised. They're from a small (and beautiful/well cared for) hobby farm on the island. Everyone is healthy looking, happy, and their housing is spotless.

 

[lupinfarm]

We've decided to name the doeling Hermione, and tentatively, the Nanny Cotton

 

[trestlecreek]

Ahh, those are cute names!!

My bucks on are rocky pasture, so I just have to trim once every 3-5 months or so.
For the does, they are kind-of lazy and stay close, so I have to do them every 3 months.
Just check the growth and you'll get an idea.