OK, So once again, I am full of questions! This time, about feeding! I now have my does getting nice and fat. They look really cute that way, and it makes me feel good BUT...They are also finally starting to seem pregnant! So now I am worried about how I am feeding them and if I am making big kids!
Remember, my 9 yearlings are very small, compared to most peoples and I don't know why unless they have been breeding for real small ones at that breeders. I have not been around enough to know and even my Penny who was born here does not seem as big as some of you talk about although I do think she is heavier than they were at this age. Can't be sure because most of them were older when they got her than she is now!
Haven't weighted in a while. Keep meaning to pick up the scale I borrow to weigh with and forgetting. Hopefully real soon! If I had to guess I would say they are between 45 & 65 pounds and are about 18-24 months! I could be way off, I've never been good at guessing that!
Anyway, all that talk in the discussion about HAY PELLETS, whatever exactly that is... has me thinking...
I was afraid that I was feeding them to much and would make the kids to big...but maybe not...
I know they can have all the hay they want and our hay is pretty crappy...I know that most people feel to much grain makes kids to big and hard to deliver...I don't want to do that... But they looked like crap on just hay so I started feeding them...well this discussion about the pelleted hay has gotten me thinking...
If the pelleted and cubed beet, alfalfa, timothy and oats are all looked at as hays... the BOSS is a supplement along with the minerals and baking soda... then that only leaves the sweet feed as grain...I haven't really been feeding them all that much grain.
They only get 1/3 -1/2 cup of grain (sweet feed) each a day. About the same of the alfalfa/timothy pellets and about half that much beet pellets a couple spoons of BOSS + a handful of warm wet (soaked in hot water, to make it fall apart) alfalfa/oat cubes!
Now does that sound to dangerous for the kids/moms? When I didn't feed them that way, they started getting skinny. Remember, our hay is crappy bermuda down here! It rarely has any green to it.
This has had me totally freaked about the kiddings, but I can't let them just get skinny on this hay and I was thinking that I was feeding them to much grain because I was feeding so many BAGS of food, til I got to thinking that just because the feed is in bags, that doesn't classify it as grain! Right!?
So exactly what makes the kids to big? Just the sweet feeds or the pelleted and cubed grasses too? And the oats in the cubes...they would be grains right? I don't think that would be much. They don't look any different than the alfalfa cubes, I wouldn't think they would be getting much of that.
OK, I'll stop now! That should be about everything! I took some pics yesterday, but forgot to send them to the pc, I'll try to remember tonight when Hubby gets in at 12, they are on his phone and not real good. They just wouldn't cooperate at all, all they do is bounce around wanting something to eat!
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It has been a pretty good while since I weighed them and they can creep up in weight without it seeming like it.
I weighed the twins (boar mix mom/ND dad) this weekend that are a week old and they had gained right at 2 1/2 pounds each. She went from 4to 6 1/2 and he went from 5lbs. 4ozs. to 8. I could not believe it. I see them all day every day and they just look like little babies but have grown so much in one week.
She had a folded ear so I had to splint it and I left it about 6 days. It worked great and I am so happy because I did not want it to stick out to the side the way one of momma's does. It really looks goofy but it is part of her uniqueness and kind of cute on her once your use to it. But I figure she is my token horned goat and my token flying eared goat and I don't need another of either!
Thanks Deb, I feel a lot better now about the whole thing. It just has me a nervous wreck worrying about so many FFs at once! I will be so glad when all this is over!
I know what you mean about crappy hay. We were in that situation for years, and I was afraid to feed grain to my bucks because of urinary calculi, but they weren't getting what they needed from the hay and would get so skinny over the winter. So, it's important to feed what you need to feed to keep the does in good body condition, ESPECIALLY during pregnancy. I saw your other comment about using the Standlee timothy and alfalfa pellets, and that's nutritionally the same as feeding hay. Some people used to argue that goats need the long fiber in real hay, but there are so many people now feeding pellets, and their goats seem to be doing okay -- and I know of some good milking herds doing that -- so I'm thinking that the "long fiber" thing isn't really as important as people used to think it was. As one lady said, goats have teeth, so long fiber doesn't make it much past the goat's mouth.
Grain has a much higher fat and protein content that hay, so if you have goats that are in good condition anyway, then all that extra fat, protein, and calories from grain can go to the babies.
The weights of your goats sound pretty good, but it's a good idea to grab a scale and to know for sure. Yearlings always look a little smaller than mature does. Although yearlings are almost as tall as mature does, they fill out a lot in their second and third year.