Lets talk about goats!

[x4livin]

I have 3 one year old pygmy Nigerian goats. I am very new to goats. I have been feeding them plenty of alfalfa pellets and a little sweet feed(every couple of days). I also cut leafy brush(not much) about every day or two and toss it in to them. I will be able to allow them to range in grown up brush soon, but for a few weeks they are having to be penned in a 15x25 area with little to no roughage. Should I be feeding them any thing else in the interim? I am working on a pen with roughage and should be able to get them in it in a week or two.

 

[chickengirl1193]

I have 3 one year old pygmy Nigerian goats. I am very new to goats. I have been feeding them plenty of alfalfa pellets and a little sweet feed(every couple of days). I also cut leafy brush(not much) about every day or two and toss it in to them. I will be able to allow them to range in grown up brush soon, but for a few weeks they are having to be penned in a 15x25 area with little to no roughage. Should I be feeding them any thing else in the interim? I am working on a pen with roughage and should be able to get them in it in a week or two.

They should have some long stemmed grass hay in addition to what you are feeding. Alfalfa pellets are good but they should only replace 50% of long stemmed hay. The fibers in pellets aren't long enough to provide the right roughage requirements. If you add some free choice hay and a free choice loose mineral then they should be fine until they get the bigger pen

 

[x4livin]

I don't know anyone who sells hay(although everyone out here grows it). Does Tractor supply sell what they need or will I need to find a hay farmer to get it?

 

[chicken pickin]

I don't know anyone who sells hay(although everyone out here grows it). Does Tractor supply sell what they need or will I need to find a hay farmer to get it?

Most local feed stores will sell hay. You can also check on craigslist in your area, a lot of people advertise hay for sale.

 

[x4livin]

I did not know feed store kept hay. I know where one is I will be passing today. Craigslist is an excellent idea, also that I had not considered. Thank you. Is there any kind of hay I should avoid? I know with horses, there is some kind of hay they say to stay away from.

 

[chickengirl1193]

It's probably better not to get a really rich hay like alfalfa unless they are pregnant or being milked but I think that as long as it's good quality and not moldy anything will do. I've been told to ask for good horse hay when you buy it or else they may give you crappy hay with the assumption that goats will eat anything

 

[x4livin]

Thank you!

 

[SilkiesForEver]

It's probably better not to get a really rich hay like alfalfa unless they are pregnant or being milked but I think that as long as it's good quality and not moldy anything will do. I've been told to ask for good horse hay when you buy it or else they may give you crappy hay with the assumption that goats will eat anything

We feed our goats (and sheep) a mixture of alfalfa and grass hay. Right now they also get green grass so we upped the amount of grass hay we're feeding them to combat all of the green stuff.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Anyone that milks their goats I have a question... I know your supposed to milk every 12 hours but I am a waitress so I work 4 nights a week and I do.get home around 9. Would I be able to milk my goats a little bit late some times? Or do you have to stay exactly at 12 hours apart? (I havent even bred them yet so I have time to decide if its possible)

When my Nubian and Mini Nubian girls were in milk, I milked in the afternoon. It just fit my schedule better than the morning. But sometimes if I was busy their milking time would delay at most 2 hours. They did fine. As long as you don't miss a whole day they should be fine.

 

[chickengirl1193]

When my Nubian and Mini Nubian girls were in milk, I milked in the afternoon. It just fit my schedule better than the morning. But sometimes if I was busy their milking time would delay at most 2 hours. They did fine. As long as you don't miss a whole day they should be fine. 

Okay thank you! Did you milk them twice a day?