One is a FF at 1 year 10 months. She is 9 days fresh, and I am leaving the baby with her 24 hours a day and milking her twice a day.
My fourth freshener is 4 years old and only has 1 kid. She is 8 days fresh. I am following the same routine with her as with the FF.
I am planning to separate them from moms at night by 3 weeks. Both babies are growing well, though the FF's baby has a heart murmur.
They get a total of 1 pound of grain and 1 pound of chaffhaye a day (divided to 1/2 lb each per milking.) I did read where Deb says that for 3 lbs of milk a doe needs 1 lb grain above her basic needs. They have free choice hay. Should I up the feed?
I am keeping detailed barn records from each day, but we are going on milk test this year. I want to be sure that I am doing everything I can to maximize milk production.
Any thoughts, suggestions? Thanks!
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It is custom mixed at a local mill, and they add the Fertrell's in with it. The 60 lb bag of Fertrells is labeled that it is good for 2000 lbs of grain. They also had to add some extra minerals when the tests came back to some of her formulas (chicken was low on ca for instance.) But I don't know the breakdown. I should look into that.
Good luck with the custom milling - it has been a hard road for her here. They do it - but the mills here are very big ag minded. We do like them though because they have nongmo corn and thus, nongmo distiller's grain. (Lots of whiskey made here for the international market and they have to have nongmo.)
Thanks!
If she is just using the Fertrell Goat Nutribalancer, that's not the same thing as having her feed custom mixed. If it were custom mixed, she'd be relying on a local person to add each individual mineral and vitamin to the grain. I just checked the Fertrell website, and they only have the nutritional analysis of the Nutribalancer as it is bagged -- not as it is recommended to be mixed with grain. As a free choice mineral, it's really low in copper, but I don't know how the math will shake out when it is mixed with the grain. I know Fertrell has a recommended mix of different grains that you are supposed to use. I wish they'd put that info on the website.
I've been using either Purina Goat Chow or Dumor Goat Sweet Feed because they were the only feeds I could find that had at last 35 ppm copper. I am currently talking to a local feed mill about creating a custom mix. I actually sent him a list of the vitamin and mineral levels that I wanted in the grain, and after some discussion on the selenium, I think I'll be able to get what I want. He initially said he couldn't put as much selenium as I was requesting because the federal government sets a max on it, but when I showed him feed tags from Purina and Dumor where they use that much selenium, he agreed to do it and then change the label to say that we should feed half as much.
I didn't know that about the feed, but what I mean is that she has researched and mixed her own feed for her goats for years, and this past year got it tested for nutrition (since it is now being mixed by a custom mill.) But, your input does make me wonder about it. It is all whole grain, and has the Fertrell's goat nutribalancer in it. I will ask if she has the test info.
What feed do you use, Deborah?
Unfortunately, there is no legal requirement to label anything as "goat feed." There are commercial goat feeds on the market that have everything between 5 ppm and 80 ppm copper. The term "custom feed" sends chills down my spine because I tried to get a custom organic feed, and their so-called expert put ZERO copper in it! Needless to say, I do not buy feed from them. Even though there are legal limits on selenium, you can find .3 to .6 ppm selenium. The difference is in the feeding directions. The one with .3 ppm selenium says to feed 2X as much. This is why you need to read the label that comes with your feed. The 3 pounds of grain to 1 pound of milk recommendation is simply based upon general grain recommendations and may not actually provide your goats with all the nutrients they need.
We are using a 16% custom mix a friend of mine has made. It was tested especially for goats.
Sounds good. What type of goat feed are you using?
The kids are probably getting as much as you are milking out, if not more.
Also, is there an accepted estimate as to what the kids are taking? I am just wondering if the girls are making twice what I am getting, three times, or what.
Or will I just have to wait until we separate at night to get a better estimate?