I would like to start mixing my own grain ration for my milking does. It's starting to become more difficult around here to find fresh goat chow and my does are starting to turn their noses up to the stuff I do buy. We have lots of corn, oats and wheat in our area. There is also beet pulp and kelp meal available (but expensive). Does anyone have a good homemade recipe to encourage milk production?
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Wow, I cant remember the last time Goat Chow cost that much! We actually have a Purina mill in Denver, which is 90 miles away from here and Klassie Goat mill is even closer. I wonder why we're getting charged so much? Too bad I cant pick up at the mills but I guess you have to be a dealer to do that.
The part of the country you're in definitely makes a difference in what you need for minerals, and goats have different needs than cows. The vets and professors I heard speaking at the ADGA conference were saying that they probably need more copper and selenium than cows, which is kind of interesting because 20 years ago, they mistakenly thought that they were just like sheep and didn't need any additional copper. And the sad thing about that is that we're learning now that some sheep do need supplemental copper. It could just be that our soil is getting more and more deficient in copper and selenium and other trace minerals that the amount in hay and grain is lower than it used to be.
I've never heard of any goat food costing so much! Maybe you could find it cheaper if you go online to the Purina website and use their dealer locator? It's $14-15 around here.
Wow, I sure wouldnt want that to happen. So far I have not had any problems with milk production or fertility. I have not had any illness or deaths. Purina Goat Chow is $28 a bag here, thats why I switched to the Klassie Goat. Maybe I will continue with adding whole grain to the Klassie Goat to make it more appealing. What my goats really want is my stove corn (cleaned whole corn). They try to get into the bag every chance the get. My parents ranch cattle only get salt licks here. They get supplemented with a sweet lick when the grazing gets poor later in the fall, so it probably makes a big difference as to what area of the country your in as to what minerals you need.
It can be really complicated depending upon where you live and what type of soil deficiencies you have in your area. I'm feeding Purina Goat Chow, which has one of the highest copper levels of any commercial feed out there -- twice as much as most feeds -- and I give Sweetlix free choice, and I still have to give my does COWP three or four times a year, as well as additional selenium. I got to this point by doing liver biopsies on dead goats and watching fertility and milk production. As much I don't like the idea of feeding the Purina because I know the corn in it is GMO, I'm very scared about starting over with plain organic grain and trying to figure out the supplements. Grassfed cattle producers put out individual minerals in something like 12 or 14 separate dishes for their cows to supplement themselves "cafeteria style," which is probably ideal, but it's really expensive, and sadly I haven't had the best luck with the "all natural" supplements, so I'm honestly afraid to rock the boat now because my goats are producing better than ever before and have fertility that is higher than ever before. I tried one new thing with my bucks this year and wound up with a dead buck from copper deficiency.
I thought that if I was feeding free choice goat mineral that I wouldnt have to worry about that. Deborah, what do you feed?
Depending upon what part of the country you're in, you could have a problem getting enough copper and selenium in your mix. A deficiency in either one will cause problems with fertility and production. That's the kind of thing that you can't really see today, but looking back over a few years, you are more likely to see it. I had no idea I had a deficiency problem when I was in the midst of it initially. But once I had about a dozen senior does and was only freshening about 2/3 of them every year, I realized there was a fertility issue. The other thing is that I never realized how poorly my does were producing until we got the nutrition issue figured out and then they were producing so much more than in the past. Since my goats came from herds on milk test, I knew what their mothers produced, and I was always wondering why my does didn't produce very well. It can be tough to get nutrition figured out.
I quit using beet pulp because most of the sugar beets now grown in this country are GMO and sadly my goats are already consuming too much GMO corn. I didn't really see a difference in production or butterfat based on consumption of the beet pulp anyway.
I did some checking too. There are not many recipes out there but one I liked goes like this:
4 parts whole oats
2 parts whole barley
1 part cracked corn
1 part black sunflower seeds
I wonder what the protein content would be? I know that sunflower seeds are high in protein. I suppose I could get the protein info off the bag and do the math-calculator anyone? ha ha! I feed meadow hay in the morning and meadow hay and alfalfa at night. Daisy is eating the Klassie Goat better since I've added oats to it. The bag is as hard as a rock and the goats just hate it when its not soft and sticky, now it just looks dry and stale! I dont think I will pay $18 a bag for that, I can mix something better. What are the herbs for and can you get them in bulk?
I am not an expert but am interested in this too.Here are some bits and pieces I have picked-up along the way.
The protein % should be around 16%
I have read of people doing a minimal sprouting of whole barley and whole oats
I have also read that alfalfa produces milk
I am using rolled barley,black oil sunflower seeds(BOSS),alfalfa pellets,and some dried nettle and dried raspberry leaves when I have my goats on the milkstand(now why did my writing switch to italics?).
Off the milkstand I feed alfalfa hay 2 times a day.Offer free choice baking soda,loose mineral and will also be offering free choice kelp.
But all this said I really do not know the protein content of what I feed.I do know my 2 does seem healthy and are not seeming to get in bad condition from throwing all their energy into milk production.