Official SS Goat Thread

[FarmerDenise]

I didn't get to pick my babies up today

One of them had died and the other is in a group that has colds. The goat lady didn't want me to take home a sick baby goat. I said thank you. After all she is the one with experience.

She will call me in a day or two, when the little ones are healthy again and I'll get to pick out another companion for my little LaMancha doelet.

I went ot the goodwill outlet today and scored two baby bottles for next to nothing.
The special goat nipples that you put on soda pop bottles cost 3.99 each. And then I had to go and buy some soda in plastic bottles, so I could have 2 bottles. They were 1.49 each. jeeez That's more than $5 for one bottle to nurse a goat. So I was real happy to find two unused baby bottles at the Goodwill. I got a lot of stuff, and the whole shopping cart filled to the gills only cost $11.

 

[Blackbird]

Aww! I'm sorry to hear that Denise..

Do you know how it died?



Lori.. I'm not sure.. you could try mangles or amaranth, oat grass, wheat, orchard grass? I'm not sure. Our pasture is large enough that it doesn't all get eaten down right away, and part is made up of trees. The grassy area is a random mix of weeds. We've only had the bucks on pasture long term, but we also supplemented with grain.

 

[Blackbird]

I was chatting with my friend Sarah from Sandy Lane (http://www.sandylanedairygoats.com/) about the feed recipe she gives her goats. The one on her website isn't current, but the one she gave me is. This is what she said;

"Anywho, here is what we use for feed, it is 12-13% protein, and uses no soy or corn. We feed this to all goats, bucks, does and kids and have never had any problems with it. The does milk great on it. I use a 5 gallon bucket for measuring.

6 buckets of oats
3 buckets of barley
1 bucket BOSS
1 bucket wheat bran
1 bucket of beet pulp is optional if you feel they need it, just don't feed beet pulp to the boys
4-6 cups of corn oil. Corn oil helps to keep the dust down and adds necessary fat and a few extra carbs to the mix.

1 lb of grain per 3 lbs of milk produced
and if a doe needs it, then she'll get an extra pound a day for condition"

I'm not sure about alternatives to the corn oil, I would have to ask her again, I know she doesn't want her goats to eat a lot of corn so I'm not sure what the logic of adding oil from corn in it.

Their previous recipe included yeast. I thought this was very interesting so I asked about it. She said;

"We use a yeast from diamondV called XP DFM and its a probiotic and also helps them to utilize their feed more efficiently. We don't put it in the food anymore though because it just sifts to the bottom of the can
so we mix it at a ration of 2:1 minerals/yeast free choice."

When I asked about the wheat bran, she said that it adds fiber and protein.

I thought it was all very interesting. I think I talked about this with Monique before. Not only is this stepping away from the big ag biz, but it is also seems healthier. Most goat feeds are loaded with corn, molasses, and who knows what.

Sarah also told me that the milk tastes better than with commercial feed, and the goat's breath smells better.

I would LOVE to try this on my goats and see how they do, but I can't find barley anywhere around here. I keep searching!

 

[FarmerDenise]

The little buckling was the runt of a litter of 3 that was born prematurely and the momma goat died. So he had a bad start. He was very skinny. She said he was doing well, gaining weight and all, but we had some very cold and wet weather and even though she brought him in the house, he didn't make it.
She was going to give him to me for free, because he wasn't going to be good for anything but a companion animal and she wanted him to go to someone who had the time to really look after him until he was big enough.

Thanks for posting that grain recipe. It is close to what I feed my chickens. The Goat Lady I am getting my goats from also told me not to feed them too much corn. When I told her my chickens won't eat store bought corn, so they don't get much of it either, she laughed. My chicken mix has millet and milo in it too. She said that would be ok to feed to the goats.

I get my barley at the feed store. I found when I asked them what grains they have, they said they had barley for horses as well as other grains. So now I know to ask for horse grains. They are not organic, but it is better than getting mixes with ground up or whole corn in it. I used a bag of birdseed in this batch. It had a little bit of corn in it. I didn't worry about the amount too much, because by the time I mix it with the other grains in the can, its ratio is even lower.

 

[deb4o]

FD sorry to hear your lil guy didn't make it

Iam sure you will find just the right new family members and will love them so much, if sounds as if they will get a great home.

Iam not to sure you will be able to use baby bottles for your goats, with Alice I went right to the soda bottle as she would take at least half of it .As time went by she got to almost a full one.

BB thanks for the info on grain mix, not sure I can find wheat bran in large amounts here, but will ask at the feed store today. I would love to get off the commerical stuff.

 

[FarmerDenise]

FD sorry to hear your lil guy didn't make it

Iam sure you will find just the right new family members and will love them so much, if sounds as if they will get a great home.

Iam not to sure you will be able to use baby bottles for your goats, with Alice I went right to the soda bottle as she would take at least half of it .As time went by she got to almost a full one.

BB thanks for the info on grain mix, not sure I can find wheat bran in large amounts here, but will ask at the feed store today. I would love to get off the commerical stuff.

I am a little saddened that the little guy didn't make it, but the Goat Lady does have other kids and I will be bringing two of them home soon. I told her as long as I can get the little brown LaMancha doe, I am not too particular about the second goat. I would prefer a buckling, because I don't want to take on 2 does at once. But if it is another doe, I do want one that provides higher butterfat, because I want to make cheese eventually. But if she decides to give me one, I'll take whatever I can get

I have the soda bottle setup. I also read in several books and goat sites, that baby bottles work fine. So I am prepared for either. At least I didn't spend much money on the baby bottles.

 

[Blackbird]

I just found a picture of the goats my mom had growing up.

Their names were Neena, Nono, and Nugget So cute! I'm assuming they are Nubian mix. The picture is dated September 1978. Quite a while ago! Get a load of that salt block tied up there

I'm not sure what the mother's name was, or what kind she was, but I know they also had some Saanens.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks for that feed mix BB! We don't have any trees in the pasture, big ones, that is. We have small pines and cedars trying to grow up but they are about 4 inches tall. I figure they don't stand a chance once the goats get in there

Someone on BYH t old me to try a deer mix in the pasture and maybe add some alfalfa. Only problem is that then I'll have deer in the pasture and they will probably try to get in the garden too

I don't know....still trying to figure it out!

 

[freemotion]

That is nice, BB, to see someone feeding whole grains, thanks for the recipe.

Just a couple of observations....corn oil (any oil) doesn't add carbs, but will add a little "energy," but I would tend to avoid making up a pre-mix with oil that could go rancid, and that is highly processed. Kinda defeats the purpose of feeding whole grains, adding a highly processed, solvent extracted, bleached and de-odorized oil to the mix.

Goats eat a high-fiber diet and don't need extra bran. That is hype from the food industry to sell us processing waste, IMO.

I would just go with what you can get, whole oats or barley, and BOSS if you can get it. If you can soak it or even sprout it, the nutrient availability goes way up. This also solves any dust issue. But if your grains are dusty, it is time to find another source. They shouldn't be that dusty.

If you soak or ferment, you can feed just one grain without concerns about anti-nutrients. If you don't/can't soak or ferment, you should feed a mixture with as much variety as possible.

If you slightly sprout the grain, you can feed FAR less (and one type). The protein levels shoot up as the sprout just emerges, and milk and kid production requires protein. I kept Mya in great condition on about a pound and a half of sprouted grain per day in two feedings at her peak of about 8 lbs + of milk production. This was in late winter when nothing green was growing yet, too. And she came to me deathly skinny about three months prior.

I learned a lot about natural goat nutrition in the past year. I'm still learning. My most important lesson (learned earlier with the hens, cats, and dogs) is that the feed manufacturers want us to think that feeding our animals is far too complex for us dummies, so let them worry about it. Then we pay them handsomely for bags of pre-mixed and sometimes contaminated feeds, formed into nice little pellets so we can't see what quality of grains went into it.

I fed manufactured feeds for many years, and just bought a bag of catfood for my new barn cats (grain-free), so this is not a criticism of anyone who chooses to go this route. Just sayin' you don't have to, and your animals will not all keel over!

 

[Iceblink]

That's all great info you guys. Now you just need to go over to the rabbit thread and post feeding info over there. I hate buying rabbit pellets, but all the reference books I have read say ONLY FEED PELLETS!

Free, do you keep a constant supply of grain sprouting, or can you, say, sprout enough at once for a couple weeks and keep them in the fridge? Do you sprout them just like bean sprouts?