Why dont you like the orchard grass? WHY!?!?

[Stephen Guglielmo]

Hello, long story short we have two Nigerian Dwarf goats and recently took them off of Super Goat because I heard from the vet it can cause stones in the goat (no bueno)

So I would like to have a few questions answered.

 

1.) Is there an oat or grain mix that wont do something weird to them?

 

2.) Is there a special trough that they will eat out of?  they like Orchard grass if we hold it.....

      and I know I have to put the blackberry bushes in a special board thing to hold them in the air or else        they walk on it and wont eat it.

 

3.) what do I do in winter when there is no more blackberry??  I harvest blackberry 4 times a day for them (we live more in the city than out)  there diet is mostly that and the grass if we hold it for them.

 

thank you so much!   Picture to come soon!

[Janel Rickey]

Thanks for clarifying...

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

When we only had a few goats, the does never got grain anywhere except on the milk stand. Makes it much easier when you're ready to start milking. You can stop giving grain (goat feed) to the wether anywhere around 4-6 months depending upon how fast he's growing. I usually suggest 1/4 cup of grain twice a day for a wether; 1/2 cup of grain twice a day for doelings up to six months.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

When we only had a few goats, the does never got grain anywhere except on the milk stand. Makes it much easier when you're ready to start milking. You can stop giving grain (goat feed) to the wether anywhere around 4-6 months depending upon how fast he's growing. I usually suggest 1/4 cup of grain twice a day for a wether; 1/2 cup of grain twice a day for doelings up to six months.

[Janel Rickey]

Deborah, does that apply also for the Purina Goat chow?  We have 2 does and 1 soon to be wether.  How long should we feed the does and what is a good age to cut him off? He just turned 2 months old and we are planning on banding him this weekend... I've read 3 months and I've seen some posts that you say up to 6 months for does? so how do you separate them so the does get the goat chow and he doesn't eat any?

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

I should have asked how old the goats are. If they're under six months, they can have about 1/4 cup of grain twice a day. I usually tell people who buy wethers from me that they can buy a bag of grain, and when they run out, that's it.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

If your vet gave you that advice, I'm going to assume you have wethers (castrated males). They are very easy keepers, and someone just posted on Facebook last night about someone who bought a wether and ignored her advice to NOT feed grain, and the little guy is now dead at five months from urinary calculi. Wethers do fine on pasture alone during the summer, and during the rest of the year, they should have a grass hay.