# are oats good?



## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

hello there, can anyone tell me if oats are good to feed to goats?:scratch:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Yes, they are good. I feed them to mine.


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

ksalvagno said:


> Yes, they are good. I feed them to mine.


do they give any nutritional stuff to the goats?


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## fishin816 (Mar 4, 2011)

usamagoat said:


> do they give any nutritional stuff to the goats?


Wondering the same thing........ Do they boost milk production?


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

I feed a them to mine. They have a good protein in them. Don't have the exact amount.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

sweetgoats said:


> I feed a them to mine. They have a good protein in them. Don't have the exact amount.


About the same as corn....


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I agree


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## fishin816 (Mar 4, 2011)

kccjer said:


> About the same as corn....


And corn has how much protein?


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

They are about 12% protien. I am trying to switch my goats over to as much whole grains as I can.


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

Oats are 12%. Not sure on corn. You don't want to feed A LOT of corn though.


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## fishin816 (Mar 4, 2011)

Scottyhorse said:


> Oats are 12%. Not sure on corn. You don't want to feed A LOT of corn though.


No corn here for they boys. Girls either, only when its COLD and they need to keep body heat.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

My goats are given whole oats , barley and BOSS for their grain.
I add some alfalfa and beet pulp pellets. Just the oats , barley and BOSS is I believe 19% protein .


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

can i feed my goats alfalfa seeds who does?


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## fishin816 (Mar 4, 2011)

usamagoat said:


> can i feed my goats alfalfa seeds who does?


Do you mean alfalfa pellets? I've never heard of giving them the seeds?


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

fishin816 said:


> Do you mean alfalfa pellets? I've never heard of giving them the seeds?


can you post me a pic of alfalfa pellets so i know what they are?


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## thegoatgirl (Nov 27, 2011)

Oats are great!! They have tons on energy, and really boost growth and production. I gave them to my undersized doeling Chant for an extra boost and-BOOM! She shot up   I would definitely feed them to everyone if I could!


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## thegoatgirl (Nov 27, 2011)

usamagoat said:


> can you post me a pic of alfalfa pellets so i know what they are?


Alfalfa pellets are basically the hay powdered and packed. I feed them to mine half the week to supplement my DuMOR sweet feed.


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

thegoatgirl said:


> Alfalfa pellets are basically the hay powdered and packed. I feed them to mine half the week to supplement my DuMOR sweet feed.


are these alfalfa pellets
1st or 2nd which one:shock:


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

Those look like alfalfa pellets, but I've never seen them labeled as horse pellets. Because of the way they are labeled, I wonder if stuff hasn't been added. As far as I know, pellets don't go by cuttings.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You will need to read the ingredient label. Alfalfa pellets should just say alfalfa for the ingredient list. It looks like there is a list of ingredients on those bags. But alfalfa pellets basically look like that.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

fishin816 said:


> And corn has how much protein?


Corn contains about 8% protein and is a high energy food. Oats contain about 11% protein and is mostly fiber and not so much energy.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11489


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

I was thinking that when looking over the picture of the horse feed bags. I thought there were way too many ingredients listed for that to be plain alfalfa pellets. Try seeing if your feed place can get Goat feed for you or try mixing your own , it could be cheaper for you in the long run. And you know exactly what you are giving them too


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## fishin816 (Mar 4, 2011)

GoatCrazy said:


> Corn contains about 8% protein and is a high energy food. Oats contain about 11% protein and is mostly fiber and not so much energy. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11489


Would corn be a good grain to add to the dairy ration?


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

fishin816 said:


> And corn has how much protein?


http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11489

This page has a graph that shows the protein and starch content of different grains.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

GoatCrazy said:


> Corn contains about 8% protein and is a high energy food. Oats contain about 11% protein and is mostly fiber and not so much energy.
> 
> http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11489


Where did you find 8% on the corn??? It says 10.3....


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I said about 8%. As I understand it, the protein content of corn can vary depending on how it was raised. Actually, I know the protein content of corn will vary according to how it was raised.


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## Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats (Oct 24, 2013)

Scottyhorse said:


> They are about 12% protien. I am trying to switch my goats over to as much whole grains as I can.


I'm not disagreeing with you, but a feed bag at TSC says 9.5% protein!?!? Could it differ that much depending on quality?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats said:


> I'm not disagreeing with you, but a feed bag at TSC says 9.5% protein!?!? Could it differ that much depending on quality?


Absolutely.


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## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats said:


> I'm not disagreeing with you, but a feed bag at TSC says 9.5% protein!?!? Could it differ that much depending on quality?


Oh yeah. I'm sure someone could make a 15% protein oat if they wanted... It would be heavily genetically modified though.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Also you need to figure out if they are talking about digestible protein or total protein as well.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats said:


> I'm not disagreeing with you, but a feed bag at TSC says 9.5% protein!?!? Could it differ that much depending on quality?


Pat, you have to remember that to raise an optimal crop with optimal protein it has to have optimum water. A lot of crops - oats, wheat, barley, some kinds of hay - are raised dry land in which case they are dependent on rainfall instead of irrigation. In that case the crop does not always get enough water, they are droughty and they are low on the protein scale as a result.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Very interesting thread


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I feed oats too 
I have started mixing my own grains  I use oats, barley, BOSS, alfalfa pellets, and some Sunshine Plus (which is just like Calf Manna) and have a mixture of 16.5% protein
I really like my guys on this mix  they are doing very well..


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Skyla, I use whole oats , barley , BOSS and have a 19% protein ratio.
That's without the alfalfa pellets and beet pulp pellets. 
My amounts are three pounds of the barley and oats and one pound of the BOSS.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Jill made my mix up for me.. Idk how she figured out the mix/protein stuff out lol! I told her what I wanted to use and she told me how much of what and what not.. :shrug: I have no clue how to figure that out! :lol: 

My mix is this:
3 parts whole oats 
3 parts rolled barley 
2 parts blue seal sunshine plus 
1 part BOSS 
9 parts alfalfa pellets


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Funny , lol. Sounds like a nice mix  That Hallie baby being a picky eater for ya ? lol. She is too stinkin spoiled , lol.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I don't know how to figure that out lol! :laugh: 
Yes of corse :laugh: she always has been! It's pretty funny! And she eats SOO SLOW! Lol! 
She eats it all.. Just takes her like 15minuets lol!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Trickyroo said:


> Skyla, I use whole oats , barley , BOSS and have a 19% protein ratio.
> That's without the alfalfa pellets and beet pulp pellets.
> My amounts are three pounds of the barley and oats and one pound of the BOSS.


 Laura, this is only about 13% protein. 
Many people seem to mistake the fat content of BOSS for the protein content...It is only 12% to 14% protein, it is 28% fat.

Oats are 11%
Barley is 14%
BOSS is 14%

The best it can be is 13% Which isn't bad by any means. Goats shouldn't be getting their protein from their small amount of grain anyway. They should get it from quality alfalfa and hay.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Keep in mind that oats have an inverted Ca/P ratio, so you need to make sure they're getting plenty of calcium. Equal or better amounts of alfalfa (hay or pellets) should be fine.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks Jill and zebradreams07  I am giving extra alfalfa pellets when not feeding alfalfa hay . What does the calf manna add to the party ?
Im curious about that


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## Barnes19 (Sep 8, 2013)

Grains can vary a LOT in protein content depending how they're grown.

Corn is supposed to be 8-10%, but I find its often more towards the 8.

But I've heard different sources quoted at 12% and 6% so figure from that!

Here there's a type of sweet feed, "Rolled Barley Maize and Mollasses" that quotes 8.5%.

Maize corn should be 8-10 ... barley should be 12-14 ... so I figure the crops going into that product are not a good example of the species!


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Calf Manna is very high in protein - 25%.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

So if I added calf manna or similar to my mix , that would be better ?


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## usamagoat (May 2, 2013)

Trickyroo said:


> So if I added calf manna or similar to my mix , that would be better ?


By what theyre saying then....ofcourse! i'm gonna try adding some calf manna to their mix of

:BOSS
:BARLEY
:MAIZE
:OATS
:ALFALFA PELLETS
and soon.... CALF MANNA!:mrgreen:

when i heard about calf manna ages ago i thought you could only feed it to calf?

you see: "calf" manna well anyway thanks all for this info!!!


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