Hey there all, I'm new here, and I guess I need to introduce myself a bit before posing my question.
I'm from Alaska, and my husband and I have a home there, in a very small town. We're currently living in New Orleans, but we'll be returning to Alaska in a year and a half. I have spent the last many years, before our temporary move, building up a sort of micro-homestead on our large sized city lot. I have several hundred square feet of raised garden beds, a chicken coop which housed 6 hens before we left, and a large, empty shed in the backyard. Uh-huh. You can see where I'm going right?
Even though we're only half way through our city stint, I can't help but scheme about my next step in the micro-stead journey, something I've dreamed about since I was 15 but only recently told the hubby about-- dairy goats! Of course, due to our tiny property, Nigerians are the perfect fit.
But here's the catch, and my question. Our Alaskan hometown is very small, isolated and surrounded by mountainous wilderness. Not exactly hayfield territory, getting good quality hay would be possible but very expensive.
As you can imagine, this is part of my attraction to goats, since they are more flexible in their diet (ok, the real reason is their intelligent and friendly spirits). I've read about how they are browsers, and love brush, etc, etc. But does anyone have any experience with making brush a significant part of their diet? Is this a pipe dream? I'm imagining bringing home bundles of the young willows and alders that get cleared from roadsides (we have some pretty rural roads with not much traffic/pollution). Also, there are places I could gather significant quantities of wild plants-- beach rye, sedges, seaweeds, etc. Of course I know I would still need plenty of hay (and/or pellets might be cheaper and easier to get), but I'm wondering if any kind of significant portion of their diet could be these local foods....? Do you think 25% is a reasonable guess? Or am I living in la-la land?
Also, any ideas on how much two milking Nigerians will eat in a year when they don't have access to pasture would be great, so I can try to figure out if I can really afford a goat habit... ;)
Although I don't know much about goats, I'm no greenhorn to the rural, self-sufficient lifestyle, and I know well the pitfall of naive fantasy. I want to really think this through before we get back. It just might not be feasible to have goats where we live...
Lastly, anyone else keeping goats in a yard in town? Any general advice?
If anyone actually reads this through and takes the time to answer, THANK YOU! These online forums are so great for accessing a pool of knowledgable folks, and I really appreciate that you knowledgable folks take the time to help out us newbies!
Replies
If your only feeding 2 junior does then 1 bale a month is not bad. Sounds like you also take them for walks and they get to browse at times also. You also live in a warmer climate then some. The more goats you have the more you have to feed. It also depends on where you live and what is available. I know what you mean about the goats not liking grass. I live in the willamete valley here in oregon and there is not a lot of nutrition in our grass hay and also it always has a lot of stems. I buy mine from central Oregon which cost me more but the goats love it.
Calamity Jane said:
Everybody has such different figures! It does sound intimidatingly complicated. And pretty important when you consider that I will have to take a truck on the ferry and then drive an hour or two to pick up $13 bales of (50lb) hay. At least that's the price I found for best quality hay on craigslist Alaska. ....
Thanks for all your input though, it does give me at least an idea of what I need to plan for.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
It is hard to translate hay quantities from one farm to another because every farmer bales a little differently. I've had bales vary from 40 to 60 pounds, and the size of the individual flakes can vary based upon baling also. That said, I'd assume two to three bales a week for two goats. I've run out of hay in the middle of winter, and I never want that to happen again. Talk about losing sleep! And then you pay a small fortune because they know you're desperate.
I have 14 goats; 10 bred (but not lactating) does, 2 doelings, 1 wether, and 1 buck (gonna need another buck by next fall!). We're going through about 1 bale of hay a day right now. Occasionally they seem to drop more of it on the ground than they eat, but it all seems to average out to about 1 a day. I live on the prairies in Canada so we get fairly cold weather here. I supplement with grain a bit depending on body condition and where they are in their gestation, and I just bought a bag of alfalfa pellets that I've mixed a bit of into the goat ration. The alfalfa pellets are just an experiment because I'm not sure about the quality of our hay (I'm not knowledgeable in this area yet, but I think it's more field grass than alfalfa).
We don't have a lot of brush/trees around here so unfortunately I can't help you with that question.
Thank you for the bale a month figure. Wow! That makes things seem much more possible. Of course I understand that your two aren't pregnant or milking yet, are they even full grown? But I really just had no idea. The only other figure I was going on was a woman who told me her 9 Nigerians used about 2 tons of rich hay during the shut in winter months. Hard to extrapolate from there back to two, esp when I have no idea how much a bale weighs....
I guess I really need to look into what my hay source will be, and how much it will cost. I fear the answer. But at a bale (or more likely for me two or three) a month, it's not nearly so daunting. Does anyone else have any concrete figures about how much hay their goats eat up, or how much hay you would recommend to someone with two lactating Nigerians who were going to be mostly shut up for a moderately cold winter? Or any kind of formula to figure out how much feed (hay and grain) to stock up one at the onset of winter?
Deborah,thanks for responding, I see you are one of the primary voices of experience on this forum, thank you for taking the time! Yes, I am intending on two. I've read and talked with goat people enough to know not to keep one goat! I looked up Silver Aurora, thanks for the link! Suzanne will be a great resource. There is another farm with Nigerians in the same area I had found online before, Fair Skies I think they were called. Both appear to sell high quality dairy Nigerians, so when the time comes, I should have a good source.
For anyone else in the future possibly reading this post with a question like mine, I googled brush eating goats, and found a whole slew of possibly useful info amoung the "goats as land clearers" topic. For example, one fairly sciencey sounding paper said that their natural diet is 85% brush and forbs (broadleaf plants, ie: weeds) and only 15% grass! Now that was useful. Of course, pregnant and lactating goats might have vastly different nutritional needs.... I know I do when I'm pregnant or lactating!!! Also, there are apparently certain breeds which eat brush more than others. And lastly, but very importantly, one article mentioned the importance of learning brush eating from the mother. ie: It might be hard to convert goats used to eating a large portion of hay to anything near 85% brush and weeds.
What about pellets? They are like a hay concentrate? Not to replace hay, right, but how much of each is recommended?
salviadorrii said:
Hi
I am kind of doing the same thing.I am a step ahead as I got my 1st 2 goats in April.Two doelings.I am in a rural small town in the desert on the east edge of California.There is lots of open space around where I take my goats out on browse hikes.They seem to find the most good stuff along the streams.Locust leaves,fresh and dried.The popular browse right now(as it is winter) is tree bark.Willow and Elm.If we find pine trees they seem to like the needles.I have noticed their taste varies alot.I also feed alfalfa (I can get it near-by)I give them a clump in the morning and in the evening.They have been pretty much eating 1 bale of alfalfa a month.But I want to watch and learn just how much I can supplement with the browse.How many hours a day should I be out walking them to browse,etc.Even though the selection may be limited I think the variety they get while browsing is good.I notice they really are not that keen on grass unless they find a coarse grass.I do provide a free choice loose mineral and free choice baking soda.I am keeping these 2 goats in a backyard of my next door neighbor,this is a yard in town.So far so good.My next learning curve is getting them bred.As i have read here it almost seems like I am going to have find a place to keep a buck and a wether.The nearest buck is 2 hours away.Anyway good luck with your plan.
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