Three of my does are due in the next 4-6 weeks. They have always received a small amount of grain twice a day. I recently switched them over from a 12% all stock to Goat Chow. So this is what they get: less than 1/4 cup Goat Chow, 1 Tbs BOSS and a handful of either Timothy or Alfalfa pellets. Generally they get the alfie pellets in the AM and the timothy in the PM. They always have access to grass hay, sweetlix meatmaker minerals and baking soda. Two or three times a week I put out kelp in several different little tubs and they eat it up immediately. In the morning they eat one by one on the milk stand...in the evening they eat out of tubs in the barn. After their "dinner" I give them alfalfa hay before I turn out the lights for the night.
So...two of my does (not first fresheners) look like they are planning to give birth to tractors. The 18 month old first freshener looks pregnant but not ginormous. Even though the two older does look huge, I don't feel fats pads on their rumps or chests and I can still feel ribs (OK, not a lot, but I can feel 'em!)
I have tried to be really stingy with the grain although I know many do not feed grain at all if they aren't late pregnancy or lactating. They came to me used to grain daily so I continued it. Anyway...in the next few weeks I know I have to start increasing their grain...but to how much? I realize after they kid I can monitor their body condition to see if milking is dragging them down and to determine if they need more grain. But right now I'm a bit confused about just how much they need. Every goat and every farm is different, I know that. But if y'all could offer some input on my feeding I would appreciate it.
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Jane Wagman, member, doesnt feed grain, pretty sure, just Alfalfa pellets on the milk stand. They graze mostly - they are happy, healthy goats. And she gets lots of milk!
I went from feeding my goats a little grain year around to only feeding grain after they have kidded and are milking. Otherwise they were too fat. If they have grazing I give them only good grass hay if needed. During preganancy and growing I have nice leafy alfalfa hay available. I have not noticed a difference in condition without the grain, I just think that tends to be overfed.
Earlier this year I fed my does the way they were fed at their previous home and we only had 1 kid under 3lbs and we had a lot of problems which may or may not have been related. This time around I followed Deborah's advice. She may have been given grain at her previous home, but I don't think it was much if she did. I started feeding her 1/2 c grain morning and night...December 1...thinking she might be like the other two and kid on day 149 or 150. but Today was day 145. All the kids were 2-3lbs. They are all healthy, and able to nurse on their own, and she just shot them out like nothing. She didn't even cry! David would have heard. She had a very easy labor. Thank goodness!
Generally the milkers get their grain on the milk stand, but if I am giving grain to one group of doelings and not another group, I separate them into two different stalls in the barn and/or let them outside five minutes apart, giving grain to the first ones that go outside, then letting the others outside after they've finished their grain or when they have only a few bites left. It helps to get the others out there if they see their friends chowing down.
Two days ago I would have said it's really not a big deal to stop giving them grain. THEN I put Caboose back with the milkers because she's due to kid in a month. Well, she's the exception! She's the herd queen and always has to be first at the milking parlor door, and I just had to fight her this morning so the real milkers could come in and get milked. But MOST goats get with the program fairly quickly and accept the new reality. Caboose is just special. :) She certainly does not need grain though. She is my most "easy keeper" -- in fact, I'm thinking that she might have had problems dilating last year because she was overweight. At age 7, she had a c-section, so I am really trying to be extra careful this year and not let her get overweight, although even with just hay for the past month, she is looking pudgy, so I have to stay strong!
As always, Deborah, thank you. I fret about overfeeding them, then I fret they'll get hypocalcemic. So after about 6 months, you just don;t feed any grain at all (unless lactating or late preg)? How do you separate out those getting grain from those not without a fight? The 2xday feedings started out because that's what they had been getting, then to tame them, then we just continued it from our "horse" mentality but I have tried to keep it minimal.
I normally don't start giving mine grain until the last week or two of pregnancy, and then I give a cup once a day for a few days to start, then twice a day. If yours have been getting 1/4 cup of Goat Chow, I'm not sure if I'd increase that. If they're carrying triplets or quads, it wouldn't be a big deal to increase it to 1-2 cups a day, but if they're carrying twins or singles, you could have some really huge kids in there. If my first fresheners don't look ginormous, I assume there is just one in there, and I don't start giving them grain at all. You can also look at their dams -- goats that have "litters" tend to have daughters that have litters.
My doe, Coco, that has quads and quints has a daughter, Vera, that had triplets as a first freshener. As a second freshener, she's already huge and still has two months to go, so I'm thinking she's following in mommy's hoofsteps, and she'll be getting grain the last two weeks of pregnancy for sure. Coco's dam threw quads, and her sire's dam even had SIX one time! One time Coco had quads, I had not written down the fact that she had been re-bred, so I thought she was due six weeks earlier than she was really due, which means she got grain for two months before she kidded -- and those were the biggest quads you ever saw -- and poor Coco's belly was about four inches off the ground. I felt so sorry for her.
So, if your senior does have a history of multiples, you could increase their grain the last week or two of pregnancy, but I'd be more cautious with the first freshener.