# Purina Goat Chow



## KarmenMa (Jan 6, 2011)

Good Afternoon all!

My husband and I have recently purchased a few goats; Fiesta (who is a 1 year old Mini La Mancha/Nubian doe) and Belle (who is a 1 year old Mini La Mancha/Mini Nubian Doe)

We have had them for several weeks now in our barn. We are feeding them Purina Goat Chow as well as Alfalfa and clean water. But the curious thing is they are eating all of the grain besides the brown long pelleted pieces. It is wasting so much and we don't know why...

Is this normal behavior? If so, is it correctable or just something we have to deal with?

Thanks for your help!
Karmen


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

Welcome to Goatspot! You will love those girls, they sound wonderful, and we love pictures.

They probably don't like the pellets. Alfalfa hay probably has enough protein in it for them, or they would probably eat the pellets. I have a nubian doe who I fed alfalfa and Goat Chow and her minerals and water, and after she kidded, while she was milking, she got founder because that diet was too rich for her. Now she is resting on her laurels, so long as we don't decide she is suffering. She gets very expensive supplements and appears to be happy, once that changes and she seems to be in pain all the time we will put her down. There is no way I can breed her now. 

They also didn't like the goat chow much.

I know many goats are not such easy keepers, but unless they are thin you might want to try a less "hot" grain. Most of my goats are kinders (nubian/pygmy cross) , so they have some similar characteristics in terms of background. One of my kinders is making 3 lbs of milk a day being milked once, and she gets a scant cup of Ranchway 3-way grain mix, which is corn, barley, oats and molasses, and is 7.5% protein. This is the same grain my vet feeds his dairy goat herd, although they get a lot more of it per pound of milk than mine do. My nubian that got founder I fed the amount per pound of milk that he told me to, but didn't realize I was feeding a food that was much too rich for her. 

Good quality Alfalfa hay is a very rich food. None of my goats get any grain unless they are milking or in the last month of pregnancy. Mostly they are fat anyway. 

Your goats do need free choice access to loose minerals formulated specifically for goats. The Purina goat mineral is okay, if you can get Ranchway where you are their goat mineral is better. There are a number of excellent loose minerals formulated for goats. Some of them cost a lot more. Partly because you have to get them onnline and pay shipping for heavy stuff. Minerals formulated for "sheep & goats" will not do, it has no copper in it. Copper kills sheep but goats need it. 

Hug those girls.

Jan


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## bleatinghearts (Feb 26, 2010)

lissablack said:


> Now she is resting on her laurels,
> 
> I know many goats are not such easy keepers, but unless they are thin you might want to try a less "hot" grain. Hug those girls.
> 
> Jan


This is very interesting. Can you explain resting on her laurels? and by hot are you talking like 14% protine or more. (Everyones on Brome Hay)

I was thinking about Purina Noble Goat for my boys due to the AC in it for urinary issues.


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## JessaLynn (Aug 30, 2009)

check fine print but I think purina goat chow or the noble goat is medicated and you shouldn't consume the milk if you have any that you are milking.They are most likely getting enough nutrition and don't need the grain if you are feeding them good quality alfalfa hay.I don't give grain unless they are milking or last month of pregnancy.


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## kannm (Mar 18, 2009)

JessaLynn said:


> check fine print but I think purina goat chow or the noble goat is medicated and you shouldn't consume the milk if you have any that you are milking.They are most likely getting enough nutrition and don't need the grain if you are feeding them good quality alfalfa hay.I don't give grain unless they are milking or last month of pregnancy.


I just went on the Purina site. The goat chow and noble goat I saw was designed for milking does, no medication listed.

We don't give grain until last 2 months of preg. and while milking. I think you will find many people follow that guideline but I am not sure where it originated. Sometimes, though, we give a little bit of oats for a treat (not every day).

edited to add: Once we got a bag that those little pellets were molded (only one time). You might take a look at them and see if they look a tiny bit fuzzy or greenish or spotted. If so, take it back to the distributer and they will give you a replacement.


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## JessaLynn (Aug 30, 2009)

yea it's safe for milking does but it doesn't say anywhere about if you consume the milk.I would just check and if it says medicated on the tag (only place I found it) then don't drink the milk.I had posted about this 2 years ago when this brand became available to us and this is what I found out.Maybe they changed it but I would still check the tag itself.


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## VickiH (Sep 24, 2010)

Noble goat IS medicated. And last I knew, the goat chow was not.


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

Bleatinghearts: Resting on her laurels means she doesn't have to do anything to earn her keep, like produce kids or milk. She doesn't spend too much time on her feet either.

Jan


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## kannm (Mar 18, 2009)

I did a google search, there is a Noble goat grower that says it is medicated.

http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourc ... noble+goat

So you do have to be careful about which feed you choose as within the same brand name some feed will be medicated and some will not. It is ALWAYS good to check the tag. But, I restate that there are some noble goat dairy feeds that are not medicated.


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## KarmenMa (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

One question though: 

The two female does that I have are currently not eating any type of browse (unless I bring them a branch or two of a pine tree) They are currently in the barn and have access to the fenced outside but that is just grass right now. We eventually want to have them eat down our 5 acres of land as it has a ton of trees and brush that we do not want. 

All of the research I have done has said to let the does free feed on grain until they are at least one year old (for the health benefits and to help growth) They haven't been bred yet but we plan to do that when they go into heat.

Fiesta will be 1 in March and Belle will be 1 in April (2011) 

Should I not be feeding them grain as a free choice option? I put grain in their feeder (about 3 cups) in the morning and 3c. at night and they just eat all of the oats and leave the brown pellets behind.


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## Hidden Waters Farm (Oct 3, 2010)

We fed our goats Goat Chow for a while and most of our goats loved it, The picky eaters liked it ok. Then when the feed store ran out the day we went for more so we picked up Blue Seal's Caprine Challenger (or something like that) and even the most piggish eaters we have weren't impressed with it at all, so much that when we got our normal feed back and tried to mix it in small amounts (to get it gone) they were not pleased eating the mixture. We then decided we liked Dumor sweet 16% better and got that instead, It pleases all the goats hands down and they stay in our version of "Conditioned".


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## firelight27 (Apr 25, 2009)

All of my Nigeriand Dwarf goats love the Goat Chow. Also, it is safe to drink the milk from does on this feed. I feed grass hay because they are a on a field that gets rich in the spring and summer and the alfalfa (being rich as well) is too much coupled with that and gives kids diarrhea. I'm not sure why your goats won't eat specific parts of the grain. Some can be picky, although perhaps it is just a single bad with an off taste. You can certainly try different brands if your goats don't like that kind. Just make sure it is a goat specific feed. I just think goats tend to have trouble with multi-livestock feeds.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If it's economical for you to stick with that brand of feed, try cutting back on the amount. Or do what I have done...I have 9 mini goats and I've used and old kitchen blender to sorta chop the feed so that they can't sort through it and pick out the goodies...that cleft lip makes for very nimble sorters.
As far as "free feeding" grain, young kids benefit more from a creep style feeding...access 24/7 with no adults to compete with. Usually creep feeding is stopped at 6 months, depends on the breeder and the herd they manage.

As long as your girls have access to hay, either freechoice or portioned out throughout the day, they have "browse"...when you do allow them out into the area you want cleared, be sure to check for toxic plants and also limit the amount of time they spend there at first, give hay before you let them out so they have a full belly and won't over indulge...you can slowly increase pasture time and decrease hay amounts over a week or two.


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## kannm (Mar 18, 2009)

I am so glad you said that Liz. I remembered something about the way to start the goats on pasture but I forgot exactly what you said.


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