# Feed



## Ember (May 23, 2011)

Question for all the Boer owners. What do you guys feed hay wise and if you feed grain what do you use. My mil keeps trying to tell us how to run everything and swears we can only buy this super expensive hay she buys for her horses and llamas. 

Also how much do you feed. We bought a 50lb bag of feed 2 weeks ago and she has already fed all of it. We only have 5 goats. 2 adults a yearling and 2 3 month olds. She says she feeds them 8 flakes of hay a day.

This to me seems a bit excessive???? I'm trying to get an idea I don't want all our money and profit going to over feeding. 

I bought 100lbs of feed today and feel like that should last me until this time in April. Does that seem right??

I'd appreciate any input. I have a feeling if we listen to my mil (which I have no plans to do) we'd be bankrupt in 2 months!!


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## goatgirl132 (Oct 18, 2012)

we feed 3lbs to each goat (no matter what age) 
she yeah 50 lbs wobt last long we get one bag of feed a week and go there every week to week and a half.
and i feed costal hay i get it cheap for $3 a piece.
no 8 flakes is alittle excessive asoecually if they get forrage. 
i gave 3 a flake every few days but when i had 2 i fed only hay they were getting 2-3 flakes a day 
now our flakes are the size kf 2 or 3 normal flakes


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

During the winter we keep them in the barn because that's usually when they kid. I figured if they got grain in the am and 2-3 flakes of hay at night that would be enough. Not 4 flakes of hay and a huge pan of grain. Just seems like a bit much to me.


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## goatgirl132 (Oct 18, 2012)

Ember said:


> During the winter we keep them in the barn because that's usually when they kid. I figured if they got grain in the am and 2-3 flakes of hay at night that would be enough. Not 4 flakes of hay and a huge pan of grain. Just seems like a bit much to me.


they (unless a smaller breed)should be getting about 3 lbs each 
or Thats how i and everyone i talk to does it.
i dont feed them all sperate with their own bin it all goes in one. 
if you only have the few 4flakes is a but to much. 2 flakes should be just fine. 
abd get a scoop and measure the feed out once to see how many scoops you need 
hope this helps


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Ember said:


> Question for all the Boer owners. What do you guys feed hay wise and if you feed grain what do you use. My mil keeps trying to tell us how to run everything and swears we can only buy this super expensive hay she buys for her horses and llamas.
> 
> Also how much do you feed. We bought a 50lb bag of feed 2 weeks ago and she has already fed all of it. We only have 5 goats. 2 adults a yearling and 2 3 month olds. She says she feeds them 8 flakes of hay a day.
> 
> ...


We feed alfalfa free choice but the grain is strictly rationed. Right now we have 5 who recently kidded. They & kids go thru about 15lb per day.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well the hay should be easy to figure out, lots of waist cut back, or if your like me I make them eat everything in their feeder before they get more, I fill all the feeders up then just watch them. As for what kind I feed oat till they are close to kidding then they slowly get changed to alfalfa. I ended up getting kids with scours because the milk was so rich so after they kid they get alfalfa and oat then slowly as the kids start to eat back onto oat. Grain, IMO depends on what you want with your goats. Again all moms get grain right before and after kidding, the kids all get all they want grain till its time to sell them (butcher kids) I only feed wet cob/all stock feed. If someone seems to be needing a little help, usualy the first time does, they get put on grain with alfalfa pellets and their oat hay. This is just while they are penned, dry does that get to go out and about find their own feed and a small bribe to come in the pen at night. Honestly I just kinda go off what my goats look like, I dont want them all fat and lazy but not thin either, I want to feel ribs under meat but not see them, know what I mean? But again, this is me and what I want out of my goats.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

Ember said:


> Question for all the Boer owners. What do you guys feed hay wise and if you feed grain what do you use. My mil keeps trying to tell us how to run everything and swears we can only buy this super expensive hay she buys for her horses and llamas.
> 
> *When I feed 'grain', I feed a pelleted ration formulated for what I need. Goat Grower for weaning kids, 16% protein pelleted ration for lactating does, etc. My hay is good quality, but not the super expensive stuff.*
> 
> ...


I hope this helps!


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

It helps we bought a 'goat' grain and sweet feed to mix. We only give it during the winter but I see where everyone else says before during and a little after kidding that makes sense and would save us money. 

As far as hay my mil buys this pure alfalfa hay from a guy she's bought from for years and pays like $7 a square bale which I think is stupid. She's one of those people who won't shop around for a better deal because she's to lazy to bother so she just sticks with what she has. 

They lady we are buying our does from I think I'm going to talk to her and see where she gets ER hay from and how she feeds. 

I've also got to find a vet that does farm. My mil has used the same guy since she was 13 and his answer to everything is penicillin and that doesn't set well with me because penicillin doesn't cure everything and if I'm wrapping this kind of money up into a registered animal I want healthy animals!


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

I put out two round rolls of hay (I have 17 boers). Those last me about 6-8 months. I have lots of forage though. I feed my dry, non pregnant goats a mixture of medicated pellets an black oil sunflower seeds...roughly a 6 qt bucket full once daily between the 10 that are dry. I feed my preggo girls and lactating girls and weaned/nursing kids a 6 qt bucket with a mixture of goat grower pellets, sunflower seeds, goat sweet grain, and calf manna. There are 2 grown does and 6 kids. I also keep my creep feeder full of a pellet/calf manna mixture. These girls and boys also get free choice alfalfa hay. I usually put out about 4 flakes a day with them. 

I go through 2-3 bales of alfalfa, 2-3 bags of pellets, 2 bags of sweet grain, and one 50 lb bag of boss a month (give or take) a 50 lb bag of calf manna usually lasts me about 1-1 1/2 months depending.


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

Sorry, 18 boers...


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

ogfabby said:


> I put out two round rolls of hay (I have 17 boers). Those last me about 6-8 months. I have lots of forage though. I feed my dry, non pregnant goats a mixture of medicated pellets an black oil sunflower seeds...roughly a 6 qt bucket full once daily between the 10 that are dry. I feed my preggo girls and lactating girls and weaned/nursing kids a 6 qt bucket with a mixture of goat grower pellets, sunflower seeds, goat sweet grain, and calf manna. There are 2 grown does and 6 kids. I also keep my creep feeder full of a pellet/calf manna mixture. These girls and boys also get free choice alfalfa hay. I usually put out about 4 flakes a day with them.
> 
> I go through 2-3 bales of alfalfa, 2-3 bags of pellets, 2 bags of sweet grain, and one 50 lb bag of boss a month (give or take) a 50 lb bag of calf manna usually lasts me about 1-1 1/2 months depending.


So do you just buy the bags of black oil sunflowers for the birds and mix it?

For your round bales do you put them in a feeder up off the ground outside?


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

Yes. I buy the seeds for birds. They sell just the black oil sunflower seeds. The rolls, I just put them on the ground. I think the goats think they are mountains. They climb them.


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

ogfabby said:


> Yes. I buy the seeds for birds. They sell just the black oil sunflower seeds. The rolls, I just put them on the ground. I think the goats think they are mountains. They climb them.


What kind of hay do you buy?


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

I buy mixed hay. My husband works on a farm so i get the mixed rolls (I'm comfortable feeding them to the horses too) it's good, clean mixed hay. It has Bermuda, timmothy, and something else that is good quality show cattle quality. They have some of those $40,000 black angus cattle and it's what they eat.


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

Ok that makes me feel better about wanting to buy mixed hay and round bales and not having to buy the 100% Alfalfa stuff my MIL swears we have to buy. 

I think we'll buy some Alfalfa for our pregnant ladies and babies and everyone else can get the mixed stuff. I think buying round bales will save us a ton too if its lasting as long as you said it lasts you, we only have 5 right now but when we get our registered herd started here in a month we'll be down to probably 3 so 1 round bale would last probably all year!!

My husband popped home on his way to a job site and I was showing him what everyone was saying about how they do grain and I know it helps give him some ideas because he was googling feed mixtures already..LOL

Our neighbors have a couple of those $40k black angus cattle and it blows my mind..LOL Thats an expensive hamburger..LOL


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

Ember said:


> As far as hay my mil buys this pure alfalfa hay from a guy she's bought from for years and pays like $7 a square bale which I think is stupid.


$7.00 a bale is not bad depending on where you are located and whether or not you are in drought. The drought has made hay scarce and it's high everywhere. Couple that with the fact that the price of diesel, fertilizer, twine, and all of the other things required to put up hay has gone up, and it's scary! I never thought I would see the day that hay would go for $250 - 300/ton, but it is.

Something else you might want to consider is checking into alfalfa pellets. You can substitute up to 50% of the goats hay ration with alfalfa pellets. I've had to do that this winter because we are in very real danger of running out of hay before we can get 1st cutting up.

You might already know this, but if you divide the cost of the feed by the amount you are buying it will give you the cost/lb and you can more effectively compare costs. Beware of buying high protein feeds just because someone said to. Every animal has a protein content requirement depending on whether they are open, bred, heavy-bred, or lactating, and they cannot utilize beyond that requirement. So, if you are feeding open animals 18% protein you are wasting money because they will not use that excess protein and it is excreted in the urine. Do your homework and know what your animals need in each stage of production. Good luck!


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## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

I know. It's crazy to me. My hubs came home the other day laughing at a couple of their farm hands washing cows for some ceremony thing. Haha. 

The mixed is honestly better for them. Remember, goats are browsers, not grazers. They need that variety for a healthy rumen. Tell mil, more like cows and even more like deer. Not like horses.


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## dixiegirl3179 (Jan 20, 2010)

Send some $7 a bale alfalfa this way. I'm paying 6.50 a bale for regular old coastal hay. A 2 string bale of alfalfa at my feed store costs $21. I don't know how big the bale is compared to the bale of coastal though.


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

dixiegirl3179 said:


> Send some $7 a bale alfalfa this way. I'm paying 6.50 a bale for regular old coastal hay. A 2 string bale of alfalfa at my feed store costs $21. I don't know how big the bale is compared to the bale of coastal though.


Id say its a good 100lb + bale. She over buys and we end up having a ton left over then it goes bad before the next winter. I threw out probably 15 bales last year when we put new hay up and have thrown out probably 5 bales so far this year becuase she buys way to much hay for what animals are being fed so it doesnt get ate fast enough.

At TSC in Michigan last weekend it was $9.95 for a bale of really crappy looking Alfalfa. I almost fell over.

I grew up in Michigan and my grandparents and uncle farm it kills me living down in IN because I could just buy hay off my family if we lived up there but down here it would be a fortune to haul it back to IN with us..

I'm going to do some shopping around, I'm a believer in the fact that if you buy from 1 person all the time that person knows you wont buy elsewhere so they will charge you whatever they want and know you will pay it.

Hubs and I keep trying to talk MIL into making the lower pasture which is like 8-10 acres into a hay field every other year so we can just grow our own and have it cut but she won't go for it. :chin:


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## dixiegirl3179 (Jan 20, 2010)

Yea, those alfalfa bales are twice the size of the coastal bales I pay almost the same amount for. I think the $21 2 string alfalfa bales here are about 80lbs. It's probably because it has to be transported down here. I give the girls alfalfa pellets because I can't afford to pay that much for hay and then have them waste it. A 50lb bag of alfalfa pellets costs me 16.50


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## francismilker (Oct 22, 2011)

Most all rumenant animals should get a daily intake of feed, grain, hay, forage, or whatever that is close to 3% of their body weight along with free choice minerals and all the water they want. 

We have overfed the boers to the point that they're not good browsers anymore imho. I have a herd of about 50 boers, nubians, and 50/50 crosses right now and the nubians out browse the boers hands down. My boers come from show lines and they'll sit there and starve to death next to the feed trough before they'll get up on their hind legs and eat leaves off of trees.


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## Ember (May 23, 2011)

During the summer ours only get whatever they fin outside we lure them in the barn at night during the summer with grain


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