Yay no grain!!

[SuburbanFarmChic]

So with the higher quality hay that I picked up and getting a box or three of vegetables from our local grocery + what ever I'm regularly tossing out there anyway. I haven't given our guys grain in eh 3-4 weeks and my old bag of bones is still putting on weight and looking better. That takes a HUGE bite out of the goat budget! I know I'll need to start grain again come fall/winter but until I start seeing condition changes for the worse I'm going to let it ride. Just thought I'd share my happy dance.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Yes, that sounds great. Mine are eating brouse a lot. They have Sereca Lezpedezia in the pasture too, and they really love that stuff.

They still get a cupfull of grain each evening. That's OK, they'll all gang up on me I'm sure if I stop that. LOL...

DonnaBelle

 

[freemotion]

Yay! It is better for them, too!

 

[jodief100]

Congratulations!

I am trying to get there. I just picked up three new does off a forage only farm in IL. They look great and they wouldn't touch the grain for 3 weeks. They had to see the other goats eating it before they decided it was "safe".

I hope as soon as I get some of my more wooded areas fenced off I may be able to pull it off. There is a lot more vairiety of forage in the woods.

Awhile back I cut out most of the grain because the goats were all looking fat. I was so proud of my pasture management- until my neighbor sent me photos from his game cam of goats eating corn out of his deer feeders. Oops! He was really nice about it. Came over and helped us put the fence up and then tried to pay for it.

 

[20kidsonhill]

That is funny Jodie. except it is a good way to get a bunch of diseases in your goat herd, having them eat were deer are eating on a regular basis. But to think they were getting all nice and fat on pasture and it ends up being the neighbors corn. Sounds like something that would happen to us.

For us if we have to feed good quality hay we just go ahead and substitute some of it for grain, The grain is really not much more expensive than the hay for us, especially once you start adding alfalfa hay to it.

Ofcourse being able to grow them out on pasture only is another whole ball of wax, since pasture is so much cheaper.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Oh I know it won't last forever being free goat food but we got 4 1/2 REALLY nice round bales for free because they got rained on a little before baling. I have had ZERO issue with mold and have told the farm the came from that I'll take anything else they feel like throwing my way. So with free hay, free veggies and no grain.... this might be the first time feeding the goats hasn't been a financial disaster L.

 

[jodief100]

That is funny Jodie. except it is a good way to get a bunch of diseases in your goat herd, having them eat were deer are eating on a regular basis. But to think they were getting all nice and fat on pasture and it ends up being the neighbors corn. Sounds like something that would happen to us.

I was freaked out at first but no one died so I got over it. It is funny NOW! It wasn't at the time.

What kind of veggies are you feeding? How do you get the goats to eat them? I find mine will not anything they are not familiar with. They turned up thier noses at the pumpkins I got last year and now there is a HUGE pumpkin vine growing in the pasture.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

It helps if you have one that will eat anything. When the others see her getting all the "treats" they usually join right in. My older Nub and the sheep are the least interested. Everybody else dives right in. They have eaten pretty much any fruit or veg that is regularly at the store that isn't peppers, onions or citrus. They aren't thrilled with mustard or turnip greens but the boer girls eat those after everybody else is done. Those two are my hoovers and stand there cleaning up what everybody else doesn't eat.


Try dicing what ever it is small and sticking it in their grain. I found this worked to get kids to eat new stuff.

 

[PJisaMom]

... and now there is a HUGE pumpkin vine growing in the pasture.

No kidding. Right in the smaller pen in front of the barn. The pumpkins are sprouting like wildfire... the goats, horse, and dog won't touch it. On a positive note, guess we won't be visiting the pumpkin patch this to buy our pumpkins!

 

[greymane]

That is great! We give just a little grain to our monsters, but not much.

Just curious, PJisaMom, what is "7-ish goats"? You sound like us!