I just joined this forum and wanted to introduce myself. We purchased two does, a buck and a wether a couple of weeks ago. The does are supposed to be due in September, although only one was confirmed bred when they arrived. I am glad to find this forum and hope to learn a lot and be a resource some day! I am most concerned about what to feed them. I have read and re-read Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care" and am feeding a 14% goat ration from a local mill (along with baking soda and hay) until I figure it out! I am a "farm girl" but have never milked/raised goats, just various breeds of cattle - and they weren't really mine - they were dads :)
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I've found the most important thing about feed is to make sure it has at least 40 ppm copper. I had several goats die from copper deficiency, and after talking to a vet professor who has studied goat nutrition, I started reading labels. Many goat feeds only have 10-20 ppm copper, but goats need 40. Purina Goat Chow, Dumor Sweet Feed for Goats, and Hubbard are the only ones I know of that have enough copper. Even other feeds made by the same companies (Purina Show Chow or Noble Goat) don't have enough copper.
If you don't have a free-choice mineral, that would be a good thing to start using. Goat minerals should be loose (not a pressed block) because goats don't have rough tongues, so they can have trouble getting enough minerals off a block. Make sure it is for goats only (not sheep and goats) because sheep minerals have zero copper.
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If you don't have a free-choice mineral, that would be a good thing to start using. Goat minerals should be loose (not a pressed block) because goats don't have rough tongues, so they can have trouble getting enough minerals off a block. Make sure it is for goats only (not sheep and goats) because sheep minerals have zero copper.