Hello, Another newbie here! My husband have a small farmette in SW Wisconsin with 13 chickens, 10 steers, 1 spoiled cat, and we'll soon be adding 2 little registered ND doelings. We moved here from IL last august. I found this forum yesterday and have been trying to take in all the information I can. It's really nice to know there's a community of ND goat owners to learn from!
I'll be picking up the girls on, or after 6/22. They will be 10 weeks of age then and both have been dam raised. My head is spinning from all the information I've read on what to feed.? I will check with the breeder to see what they have been weaned to. I see so many opinions on what to feed - my head is starting to spin!
We have a lot of grass in our pasture. However, I understand goats need a loose mineral mix also. I see some people feed baking soda by choice too. Is this to aid digestion? Can anyone suggest how many ppm of copper to look for in a loose mineral mix? I'm going to browse the local Tractor Supply Store and Co-op after work today (with my notepad!) and see what they have available. Maybe I can special order from the Co-op or I'm open to ordering a mix off the internet.
Just want to be sure I'm off to a good start with the little girls! I look forward to other owner's advice.
Beth
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Well, we brought the kids home on wednesday and everyone seems to be eating the food the breeder gave me (Purina Noble Pellets) and drinking water. I have a bonus kid, one of the doeling's brothers, a little wether came home with us too. I noticed that his stools seem loose. Not to the point of what Iwould call scours, but not firm. I haven't been able to see his sister's, and the other little doelings is fine. I know that all three have gone through two rounds of treatment for cocci. The last treatment just ended on 6/21. From your expertise would you say it's just the trip (3 hrs, we got home about 11pm), new environment, and weaning? Would you recommend anything like an electrolyte paste or proboitic paste?
I should mention that the little wether and his doeling sister were kept at the breeder's friend's house/farm, so they have had several moves in the last week. The other little doeling was at the breeders and only had the move to our farm to deal with, she's the one that's doing really well and is full of spirit! The wether and his sister aren't sickly acting and have been going outside during the day. I think all the above would probably upset my tummy too!
I agree sometimes its a little overwhelming. But we are starting to find our way!! I will still probably ask 50 million questions, but I want to raise healthy goats and to do so you need to ask a lot of questions!!
Beth Fortner said:
Purina makes several different types of goat feed, and I really wish this one didn't have a name that sounds like generic dog food. Lots of people get confused by the name.
I have all of my minerals in separate feeders. If you have a Tractor Supply, they have a two-dish feeder that's about $5. I have two of those in the stall where my milkers spend the night. In separate dishes, I have minerals, baking soda, and kelp. You could mix the kelp and minerals, but the baking soda definitely needs to be kept separate. Some goats never touch it, while others eat a lot. It really depends upon their individual needs.
Beth Fortner said:
Janel Rickey said:
Well, the light bulb finally came on over my head yesterday. For some reason I have been thinking that Purina Goat Chow was some kind of kibble or pellet. I couldn't figure out why, in some of the posts I've read people were talking about feeding chow and grain in the same sentence. So, yesterday I hoisted a 50# bag off the rack at Tractor Supply (no easy feat cause that's about half my weight) and studied the bag. Their Chow is a grain mix! Duh!!!
Deborah, thanks for being specific about what you feed daily. It helps me to get an idea of what their needs are, or will be. It would be nice to have a goat feeding FAQ, but I guess everyone lives in different areas and has different pastures/browsing areas and etc.
I also ordered some kelp from Hoegger yesterday. The breeder I'm getting the doelings from feeds it also. Cheryl, do you mix the kelp with loose minerals or feed it separately? If I feed it by it's self that means I would have a gravity feeder for kelp, baking soda and loose minerals?
Yes, the baking soda is to aid digestion (rumen pH) . I also intermittently feed free choice kelp meal. I say intermittently because it is expensive! It is supposed to help with iodine, selenium and other trace elements. My friends were feeding it along with minerals and found that their goats wolfed down the kelp and ate less minerals, which is the reverse of what it should be. So now the kelp is more of a treat.
Usually you don't have a whole lot of choices with the goat mineral. I find my goats do well with sweetlix meatmaker minerals, and I can find them locally.
I only give my goats grain when they are pregnant or lactating. I find that they do great without grain as kids, and I can also avoid enterotoxemia and other problems. I have tried various ways and found this works best for me. You also may be surprised to learn that they prefer hot water in the winter and warm water otherwise.
You can feed with the DuMor or Purina. I was using Purina for a couple years when they started selling the DuMor, and although the nutritional analysis looks pretty similar, I'm afraid to switch since my goats are doing so well. I generally give doeling a cup of feed a day until about six months, then I don't give them grain until the last week or two of pregnancy. You might need to adjust this depending upon what you have for forage and browse. We have great pastures in Illinois but not much browse and nothing all winter except hay, which is not always the best quality. The farmers here are all turning to corn/soybeans, so it's getting harder to find any hay at all, much less something decent. So someone who lives in the mountains with lots of trees and bushes wouldn't have to feed as much as us while someone who lives in the desert would need to feed more grain. The bottom line really is just to watch your goats. If they start getting fat, back off on the grain. If they're thin, increase it.
I compared MannaPro to other minerals recently in response to someone else's question, and it came up short in a couple other things also. It's better than nothing, but if you can get Sweetlix or Golden Blend or Purina, they're better.
Beth Fortner said:
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