# How much should I be feeding?



## megancolleend (Jan 18, 2012)

I have ND's and switched to oat and alfalfa pellets for winter, but I'm not sure how much they should be getting. I have all does and a couple of them are pregnant. Cups or weight of food per goat would be great. Thanks.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

not sure on straight oats but I feed mine grain according to the days in their pregnancy. Those in early pregnancy get little or no grain. Mid pregnancy they get up to two cups, late pregnancy I cut back to 1 cup. They also get lots of hay - this should be their main diet nomatter what. alfalfa pellets are a supplement.


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## megancolleend (Jan 18, 2012)

I do not feed hay in the winter. Alfalfa is poor quality and out of my budget. Not a good combo. There are several people in my area who do the same thing with their goats, but one has meat goats and the other free feeds. So i'm trying to get an idea of a good amount for just pellets. I am giving my pregnant does grain as well.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

sorry but they do need hay unless you have them on pasture where they can forage greens and that is only possible in some parts of the country in Winter. hay doesn't have to be alfalfa


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## dlarue (Oct 10, 2011)

Goats should always have hay available.... especially in the winter..... They do not have to have alfalfa... they can have any type of hay... We use the same type of hay we give our cows, they LOVE it! It actually seems like they prefer the "junkier" hay.... But you are just asking for them to get sick by not feeding them.

May I ask what you are feeding them besides grain if you aren't giving them any hay?


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## megancolleend (Jan 18, 2012)

The only thing available in my area is alfalfa that is really expensive and poor quality. They eat a quarter of it and waste the rest, so I switched to alfalfa and oat pellets. My question is how much should they be getting of those.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I agree...I would buy at least one bale at a time and feed a little to them at a time...if they are wasting it then you may be feeding them to much...make them clean it up...it they do then feed just a bit more... 

Winter plant...s are not filled with a lot of nutrition ..it is mostly made of water....


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## dlarue (Oct 10, 2011)

I see. That would make it harder to keep them in hay. I would still try and find them some regular hay though. Hay is the main part of their diet, and without it I'm just not sure what would happen.... Honestly they will probably get sick without it... If alfalfa is the only hay available in your area, you might have to travel to get it elsewhere... Personally if I couldn't get hay, and I had goats I would get rid of the goats. Better for them to be healthy elsewhere and have what they need than be sick from a diet of grain only.... Especially in winter when most natural roughage is gone.

Grain/Alfalfa pellets are a supplement only. Some people don't even feed grain, they just feed hay alone (I personally feel they need more, so I grain mine, but they can survive on hay alone). Since it is a supplement only you give them very little... but if you are trying to make the supplement their sole source of food, I'd give them more.... How much more I couldn't even guess.... I would highly recommend getting them hay of some sort though. I just can't imagine them getting along without it. They have to have some sort of roughage for their rumen to digest foods correctly. Perhaps one of the more experienced members can chime in on this....


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Where are you from that alfalfa is the only hay available? Check for cane hay or corn stalk or milo stalks or anything.... Honestly, my goats favorite food is corn husks...even the days old babies are chewing on the stupid things LOL. No nutritional value whatsoever, but they will choose that above the highest quality hay I can give them. As ruminants they HAVE to have roughage for their guts to work properly. Any kind of roughage....cut small tree branches for them, cut ditch grass, sunflower stalks, find a farmer that will let you go gather stalks out of his harvested field. We don't feed any alfalfa to our goats at all. Right now they are getting cane hay (sudan grass, or whatever you want to call it) that I got from a neighbor in exchange for letting him use our tractor. This year the majority of our hay is grass hay that we cut along the road ditches.


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