# Wether questions :)



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Well, it's getting to be that time of year... planning 
My 3 kids have picked out a market wether each. Right now the boys are 7, 8 and 2 weeks old.
We'll be banding the 2 older boys this weekend.

Do you find it better to leave the wethers on their mom's until about 12 weeks old? That would give us another month, and kids start showing at the very end of May.

We feed a 16% medicated, pelleted feed <I think Nancy, and a few others use the same feed>. We also mix in alfalfa pellets for the kids. I am not sure how much, but I think about 3lbs. of feed in the morning <8 kids>, and 1 1/2 cups of alfalfa pellets I'd guess just under 2lbs. a day of alfalfa pellets? they aren't as heavy as the grain, they are small pellets, perfect for goats 

I know alfalfa can be bad for bucks, and especially for market wethers who are getting a lot of grain to be shown. I don't want to risk UC, so when we wean should we cut out the alfalfa pellets and use something else?

Dani had mentioned using Coco Soya <I think that is the name>, so I was considering adding that into their feed. They will get a little clover/grass hay every day.

We won't switch to show feeds. I don't want to have to drive an hour away to get it, and the only places I know locally I can get anything is just Purina feeds, and they are expensive & and no guarantee that they'd have it in stock all the time.

Thoughts?
How do you do things with your market wethers?

This is my kids 2nd year with wethers and they are very excited


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## loggyacreslivestock (Mar 5, 2013)

This will be our second year as well with goats.

We feed 18% until weaned, then 16% with calf manna added in (1/4 cup per two kids twice daily). Not sure of the pounds of feed- I give them all they will clean up in 15 minutes. So as they grow and age, this changes. We really had good growers last year and had to hold them to keep them inside weight restrictions. They weren't fat, just had a lot of bone and structure.

I did wether mine at 10 weeks last year, and had one get UC a week later and die. Vet said it was from the alfalfa- however, lots of people on here feed alfalfa to bring up the calcium/ phosphorus ratio??? SO I am not sure on that one.

As for weaning, they say it takes a month to get rid of "milk bellies"...So depending on when your first show is, remove them from mom in time to get rid of that...

I will again be watching your threads and cheering you on. May you have a great show season!


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