wheat grass and pasture grass, Ok to feed?

[Chickenfever]

Alfalfa is so expensive and someone on Craigslist has posted pasture grass with alfalfa and wheat grass bales for sale . Would either of these be OK to feed my goats?

 

[ksalvagno]

I don't know anything about wheat grass but nothing wrong with mixed grass or orchard grass hay.

 

[Teeah3612]

My NG and pygmy goats eat the same hay that my horses eat. Horses have sensitive digestions, so if its good enough for horses it good enough for goats. I also throw in some brush now and then when I am cleaning the yard. They really love that!

 

[20kidsonhill]

we always use a mixed grass hay. I would just ask what kind of mixed grass, Fescue isn't very nutritious. But orchard, timothy are fine. Not sure about the wheat either.

 

[Queen Mum]

My goats eat whatever they can get and seem to do fine with it. Wheat, rye oats, orchard, prairie, fescue, timothy, etc. Remember, they are browsers. Variety is good for them.

 

[mama24]

My goats have access to about 30 acres of pasture and another 10 of forest with lots of brush. So right now since our grass has taken off in the last few weeks, they are eating almost no hay. But when they were, I was alternating expensive good quality orchard grass hay meant for horses and super cheap full of stems generic hay meant for cattle. They much prefer the orchard grass if given a choice, but they eat both just fine. I am a new goat keeper. My friend I bought them from told me he feeds the cheap stemmy stuff, but since I am planning on milking, I should consider better quality hay plus extra grain. So that's what I'm doing. I also feed them some alfalfa. I was giving them a little every day, but since they are mainly eating fresh spring grass these days, I haven't bothered. Once spring is over and the grass starts getting tougher and drier, I'll start the alfalfa daily again. I should be milking by then as well as letting them nurse their kids. So I guess my point is feed whatever works for you. If the hay you get is less nutritious, they will just eat more of it to get their calories. This isn't a bad thing, since all that fiber is good for them. But if you are milking them, they need to take in a lot more calories and that may not be possible without a better quality feed. Only so many ours in the day for eating and cud chewing, after all.

 

[redtailgal]

My goats eat the same hay as the cattle. It's a pasture mix, some fescue etc.

I've found however that their little tails wiggle in excitement to find hay full of weeds. So they get the "trash" that the cattle dont like. It works good. The goats pic out the "trash" and thrive on it, but leaving the stemmy hard to chew stuff that the cattle like.......so I throw the "trash that the goats wont eat from the trash that the cows wont eat" back over to the cattle.

My goats will flat out run you over for hay that has bermuda grass in it.