I know hay would be optimal however until i get my pastures finished and in production finding good quality hay in my area is proving nearly impossible. Is it possible to feed pellets and grain entirely and forgo the hay until I am able to get my own into production?
These are the pellets I'm looking at..
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/standlee-hay-alfalfa-hay-pellets
I'd prefer an organic pellet or hay but not finding any of those at the local supplies. The ones I've found online cost a small fortune to ship. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have my first 2 doelings arriving next weekend so I want to make sure everything is ready to go for them.
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Re picking names:
Most registered goats come with a name already. :) If you want to give them a nick name when they come to you, you can, but otherwise, they should have a name already.
Thank you so much for the advice! I just did a search for a feed store and found one non chain within reasonable distance that says they offer high quality hay so I'll have to stop by tomorrow and check it out. If not Its really good to know I can do the pellets until the pastures come in. Now all that's left is picking names!
Pellets are okay in a pinch but they don't need the alfalfa pellets, it will be too rich for them--just the Timothy grass hay pellets they have at TSC are fine. You might want to look for a local "feed" store in your area. They will usually have bagged hay for sale which would be better than pellets until hay season really gets going this summer. The pellets are pretty hard for young kids to eat although they can and will but they sometimes choke on them a bit.
When I was researching Raising Goats Naturally, I interviewed someone who switched from hay to pellets. Her story is in the book if you have it. She raises Nubians in Texas, and she made the switch because she was getting older and realized she would not be able to continue handling the hay by herself. Her goats do fine on the pellets.
Unless you have goats in milk, I'd suggest the grass hay pellets. If you have pregnant does, the grass-alfalfa pellets are a good choice.