We are now off of grain!

[samssimonsays]

I was torn on the whole grain and no grain debacle quite honestly... BUT we are now a grain free "herd"! I say Herd lightly because I only have three goats

I still have about 30 pounds of grain left out of my 50 pound bag and they do get it occasionally but usually only if they need to be occupied for a short amount of time otherwise they have been on a diet of hay and pasture. Their favorite is dead pine needles and lord knows they will NOT eat the grass or clover or anything in their pen... NOPE! I have to let the rabbits loose in there to mow it down for me because it starts to get half way to their knees and is the new baby lays down she just about disappears! I shouldn't say none of them eat the grass in the pen.... that would be false. The new baby does. But she is so little she cannot keep up with the area.

On the plus side, with letting them free roam the property while we are home they have cleared the unwanted raspberry bushes from in front of the storage container, under the trailer, in the car port and along the garage. We have yet to let them follow us to the back of the property where the ones we want to keep are . Our neighbors have requested us to bring them over to their place next . They don't know what they would be in for with Ollie!

 

[norseofcourse]

My sheep don't eat much of the clover in their pasture, either - but they start eating it more towards the fall. I think it tastes differently at different times of the year (that's probably true of other plants, too).

 

[samssimonsays]

That makes a lot of sense! I never thought of it that way.

 

[outdoorhoney]

Congratulations! Getting my girls off of grains would be a fight and a half Usually about two hours before dinner time, they'll start crying out on the pasture wanting back into their pen. Then when I open up the pen, they'll go sit in their troughs waiting for their feed. All while being as vocal as possible. They are some noisy, spoiled girls when it comes to their grains.

How'd you do it?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Let them get over it

We have been lucky that once the forage comes in they don't even holler for supper. Right now I am feeding a few of the does to get a few more pounds on them before breeding and the FAT 90lb Nigerian DWARF is sure she needs some

 

[samssimonsays]

Mine are all babies this year so I just started weaning them off of it. A little less each day and then went to every other and now they'll get it as a rare treat when we have company Lol. We do lots of grass hay and they have their mineral block as well as the grass and brush in our yard. no one looks skinny ever just healthy.

I can picture those girls now.... you need to video tape that! Hahaha!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Per your OP I'm not really familiar with the "grain vs no grain debacle "
I'm not really sure what that means
So Im not sure what your goal is by removing grain from their diet?
I guess I must be on the grain side because I think you should be feeding those Jr does some feed
Now is a time in their lives where they should be growing rapidly
You had another post on here recently with more current pics of your animals and I thought they were small and thin for their age and I'm approximating their age from your first posts
I'm curious what their exact age and weights are but I think I have Nigerians about the same age who weigh more
i hope my comments don't offend you

 

[samssimonsays]

I don't take offense at all: )

My alpines come from very established dairy lines and most of them look similar but when they've been out of their pen eating they are not as thin. My wether and snubian doe are the same size and weight as their full siblings on grain currently. My coworkers also have Nigerian dwarfs and they are used to a traditional dairy breed and he is having a hard time adjusting to the different build so maybe that's something as well? I'm not sure, this is my first go round with them. Lol my little Alpine doe is petite naturally as are her genetics. Outstanding milking lines but petite as well.

Here is tilda born 3/3

olive was born mid April, not 100% sure on her bday I was told it but forgot... she was also a bottle baby and bullied a bit at her last place. Her older sister is built the same way and was raised on the mother.

here is Ollie the wether born 2/27 he comes from thicker and bigger lines than little olive does. He is even thicker than most alpines you find around me. I guess they seem totally normal compared to body mass. I can't feel ribs any or spines. The vet wasn't concerned but I do not know their weight. I'm guessing about 50#s for tilda as she's getting harder to lift Lol

 

[OneFineAcre]

The two does look small for their age
Maybe it is genetic just slower growth
I have Nigerians born first of March that weigh 36 lbs
For reference they need to weigh 40 lbs to breed
We don't breed that young but we are breeding and feeding for faster growth

 

[babsbag]

Your doelings need some grain to grow quickly but they will grow without it; I don't grain my kids but they do grow more slowly than they would with grain. The main reason I don't feed grain to kids is just that I have too many and no way to feed them and not the does, I need a creep feeder.

But that being said if you intend to milk them when you breed them they will need grain when in milk. There is a direct correlation between the amount of grain they eat and the amount of milk they produce. (within reason of course, there is a limit to milk production)

Why no grain?