Hi and Happy July 4th to all!!
I am a proud new owner to 4 Nigerian Dwarf goats: 1 four year old doe and her 3 month old doe ling as well as two other kids: a 3 month old doe ling and a 3 month old wether. My question is...when do I wean the wether off the Purina goat pellets (I feed them pellets twice a day). I keep reading about how wethers can develop blockageson the pellets. Also...any other ideas for what I can feed him while the does are eating their pellets?I've read corn chips...but ....as a healthy eater myself...I can't imagine giving him those on a daily basis! Your ideas are appreciated!
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Grass hay is sufficient for wethers. If you give alfalfa, supposedly you should also feed grain to balance the calcium-phosphorus, so then you wind up with a rather high calorie diet for an animal that has zero stress on his body. Your feeding program might also change based upon the season. During the spring, summer, and fall here, my bucks are on pasture and nothing else, but during the winter, they get alfalfa and grain, because they loose too much weight without it. Of course, that's also breeding season, which is when they're working hard. I'm in Illinois, so during the winter, there is no pasture.
Thanks to all...I'm taking in all of your input! It really does seem like everyone (including those who write books on goat care) handle the wether diet in their own way. In Massachusetts, where we live, our goats reside in a 200 foot pen. I wish pasture was an option for them...but alas..just not a possibility. We provide them with unlimited second cut hay which they nibble on throughout the day. I saw something interesting recently on a goat website where each of the goats were trained to go to their own feeding dish individually (in order to eliminate the feeding frenzy at feeding time). I like that idea...especially since it will allow me to keep Barlow (my wether) away from the girls while they have their grain. I'm thinking of substituting his grain with fruit, veggies with corn flakes mixed in for good measure! He's only tfour months so I'm going to try to implement this plan in the next couple of months so he's off the grain by six months. If this idea sounds crazy to anyone...please let me know!! I'm new at this so am learning as I go!!
I have 2 wethers and give them sweet mix. I am sure that this is proabaly not good, after reading this. However we live in eastern NC where dry, hot weather limits the pasture. Does anyone have any input for me too? Thanks for posting this question, I guess that I needed to know too! :)
A goat's need for supplemental feed can vary from place to place. In Illinois, where we have lush pastures through the summer and plenty of hay for the winter, there is no reason to feed grain to wethers or dry does over about six months of age -- basically, once they've done most of their high-speed growing. I have two 7-year-old wethers that have had nothing but grass and hay for their entire lives and they tend to be a bit on the heavy side. I only give grain to does in the last two weeks of pregnancy and then when they're milking, and they always get grain on the milk stand, even during the last two weeks of pregnancy, because it gets them into the routine for milking. That means that my wethers don't need to be given anything else while the does are getting their grain. If you don't want to do the milk stand routine, you could just take him out while the girls are getting their grain.
As for Fritos, I would never give them as a daily treat. They're just corn, salt, and oil, so they'd be much worse for a wether than just plain grain, which has no added oil.
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As for Fritos, I would never give them as a daily treat. They're just corn, salt, and oil, so they'd be much worse for a wether than just plain grain, which has no added oil.