Here is how I have been dealing with the goats: they come in to the barn at sundown, get a scoop of timothy pellets to hold them over for the night. I also leave a flake of some kind of lower quality grass hay (coastal, pangola, or the like) in the hay rack but I deliberately buy stuff they don't like very much so that they will only eat it if they are really hungry or really bored. Last year they gorged on the pretty hay all night just because it tasted good, then would lay at the gate and not graze the pasture ALL day.
My new system, they really don't eat all night, just pick at the hay they don't like so much, then they go out and graze the pasture all day long.
I was thinking I could easily switch the nightly pellets to alfalfa or mix of alfalfa and timothy for the milkers but will they be alright with no food all night? Well, the lesser quality hay will be there and they do eat it a little when the mood strikes.
We are wasting so much less hay and using the pasture so much better with this method I'd like to keep it up if it is safe for the milkers. I could even live with a small production loss if it meant not wasting hay and not having them lie there at the gate all day and not graze because they are so full.
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Margaret... the pastures are grass & all sorts of small weeds I don't know the names of but the goats enjoy them...
the perimeter of each pasture is all trees & browse galore. They LOVE to eat this but they rarely venture that far. They are very timid about going off very far by themselves. I have wondered if this is because there are only 3 of them with no guarding animal? The bucks are very bold and will go out to the edge of each pasture and beyond. I was just thinking yesterday, if they lived with their bucks like they would in nature, the bucks would lead them to the good food and probably make them feel safe. But no way I can re create that.
Trees we have include: live oak, scrub oak, brazilian pepper (they LOVE pepper trees), maleleuca, earleaf acacia, willow, tulip trees, black locust, honey locust and I also planted bamboo and moringas for them.
So, the food is there. And I can tell a big difference in their behavior when they are milking vs not milking, reason being when they are milking they eat a big meal on the stand twice a day & just aren't motivated to get out there and venture into the scary far away lands for the food.
Juliana, what is growing in the pasture? That is the only thing that I can figure is going on here. This is not a pasture full of lush horsey grass growing right? I know you know a lot about what goats eat and have some special stuff for them but exactly what is there that is appropriate for them? I am curious about what your horse AND what your goats eat. I really don't know much about pastures per say! I have read a lot about planting for goats but don't know how it compares to the horse pastures and so am just curious about what all you have growing! Especially since you have both horse an goats.
Mine do that to though! Let them out and they follow me around hoping I go to the feed room!
I swear I have seen my goats lay around by the gate waiting to be let in for hay for as many hours as I am locking them up with no hay. I always be sure they've had a big meal at bedtime so I think they ought to have plenty of cud to chew all night- and be hungry and ready to go out and forage at sunup.
The only one who isn't in excellent condition is the only one who DOES get free choice hay all night, so... guess I am not going to worry about it. Putting them in and out has been a real problem for me because of this issue. I expected them to act like horses who run out of the stall and spend the whole day eating as much grass as they can even if they've had hay overnight. But they literally would lay there ALL day waiting to be let back in for the hay!! Crazy!
Last summer I had to lock the horses up with no food overnight, too, but that was because they were becoming morbidly obese on the summer pasture.
Well, the fact is that just like each goat is different so is each herd since the climates, browse, nutrients etc. differ, so if this is working and they look that good and I know you will watch their condition I can't see how they wouldn't be just fine. Especially at this time of year! I mean, I know what it's like down here in the south! It is fixing to start growing out of control and that means that if they are fine now, they should be doing even better as time progresses through the summer and even fall down here! Go for it!
Well...we have kinda progressed into no hay overnight at all a lot of the time. I would buy the crummy hay, but sometimes they would get a hankering for it and eat the whole rack overnight = same problem as before. So, I just started experimenting with leaving them nothing at all overnight except for kids who are separated from moms, they get hay.
I am giving them a plentiful meal of a mixture of alfalfa/timothy & sericea lespedeza pellets at night. Penny & Velvet are sleek and if anything overweight. Velvet does get grain on the stand. I have not actually been feeding Penny grain on the milk stand all the time. I am feeding her alfalfa/lespedeza 50/50 on the stand & just a touch of grain sometimes. She gets fat on air. She is sleek & shiny, energetic, her eye membrane color is great...so? Can't be anything too wrong with her?
Annie is my current wimp. She is stalled seperately with nice alfalfa/grass hay free choice & gets an all you can eat buffet on the stand. This is what it takes to keep her looking decent while milking.
They are stalled from approximately 8:30pm till 6:45 am right now. Other part of the day they are out on good pasture with browse.
To me your reasons for doing this make perfect since and it is working! You aren't suppose to fix what isn't broken, right? But...are they getting grain on the milk stand too?
I would imagine as long as they are healthy and there body condition is good, then what you are doing is fine. You aren't keeping food from them. They have it available just choosing not to eat it. Just make sure that it isn't moldy hay (I'm sure you know to look for that, I just have to say it :) ).
We have NEVER had that problem lol. (getting thin...not enough calories) :)
What you're describing is probably fine. She does have something available if she's hungry. Just keep an eye on her body condition. It will go downhill if she's not getting enough calories.
PS the pretty green hay is $20 or more a bale....which is why it is kind of unsustaniable to keep them on only that!!