What do you guys feed your pregnant goats?

[arabianequine]

I have them on nothing but hay, water, and loose minerals. They came pretty skinny. They got scours and high fever for 5 days/2 weeks after being here. I stopped all grain since and scared to start again.

If they are pregnant and I think they are still under weight in the hips and top line that I should be giving some kind of grain/pellet as well but what do you suggest and what amount for how many days before increasing to what etc?

Thank you!

 

[TOPalmer3rd]

have you had them checked for worm load??? Anytime I introduce my herd to anything new like a grain or a different type of hay I will do it slowly. My herd doesn't like change very much. When ever I worm any of my herd I will wait a day and then give them a oral dose of probios. This helps restore the good natural flora in the stomach.


GL

Tom

 

[arabianequine]

Yes the fecal results came back today with not one worm or egg in the 2 grams of pellets they put on the scale.

It did have 1 opg of cocci. Which the lab said is very very low and normal for goats to have some. They recommended no treatment for this level.

I do the pro bios before I worm. I wonder what everyone else does.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

For the first half, we fed them the same as always. During the second half, we gave them about two cups of alfalfa pellets and one cup of grain. In hind sight, I kinda think I should have left out the grains longer given the size of the kids. Ours were in good condition before they were bred though so others might advise you differently.

 

[Mossy Stone Farm]

We just keep our girls on the same diet free choice hay and minerals, and pasture.

About a month to 3 weeks before birth i start them on the milk stand , grain mix....

( EDITED: FOR SLOW TYPING FAST MIND)

 

[Goatmasta]

The question is what kind of hay and what is the quality of the hay. My opinion is that you have to put a certain amount of protein in and you have to put in a certain amount of fiber/roughage in. If your hay is not sustaining both of those then you need to up the grain.
Not all hay is created equal. There are different types, different cuttings, hay producers that take care of their hay fields, i.e. fertilizer, reseeding, etc. and hay producers who do the bare minimum. It all matters. Protein and calcium levels are invaluable during pregnancy. Nearly all brands of goat feed recommend 3.3lbs of feed/100lbs of body weight. I would work them up to that and then see where they are, if they are too fat back off, if too skinny add to...

 

[arabianequine]

They has some kind of orchard grass in this huge feeder we got it came 3/4 full of hay. I was giving them a lot of alfalfa and cut back a bit now giving more again. It looks nice and green and they sure love it.

They eat the older grass stuff in the feeder over the fresh grass I just got for my horse. They don't seem to like it they just let it sit there.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I agree with Goatmasta about the hay. And the importance of calcium. Be sure to balance your calciumhosphorous ratios (2:1) at all times. I don't ever want my does under conditioned going into late gestation- they're going to put everything into the kids and overfeeding to compensate can result in a still skinny doe and enormous kids. Then good luck getting through early lactation without the doe looking terrible! I want my gals at their ideal weight at breeding if I can help it, but certainly by the time the last month of gestation rolls around. We accomplish this with plenty of good quality grass hay, alfalfa hay and/or alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, and grain when needed. The key for us is really the alfalfa- we're probably closer to 6:1 than 2:1. Particularly when the hay is available. We don't feed large amounts of grain to our dry/early bred does. If she's already bred and you feel she needs to flesh out quite a bit to hit her ideal weight I'd consider drying her off early (50-60 days dry is the norm) to let her recondition.

There are a couple "nutrition and condition" threads that might be good reading. Some pictures are included as well.