# How much grain?



## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

I have 9 4 month old Boer wethers and doelings in a pen by themselves. They have access to hay 24/7 and I've been feeding them out of a creep feeder. I keep the creep feeder full and have been feeding them 16% grain with an alfalfa/corn/boss mix.
Sunday I put between 25-30lbs of grain in the feeder. Yesterday I checked and it was empty so I dumped another 40-50lbs in it. Today I checked and it was empty again. 
Is it normal for kids to be eating this much? Should I continue to make sure it's full every day or should I cut back some on the grain and make them eat the hay (which they usually go through 4 flakes a day)? These kids aren't for 4-H, they are just weaning from their moms and I'm taking them to the sale barn next month.


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## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

That does seem like a lot of grain.. usually we feed each goat 1 1/2 cups twice a day. Goats will eat whatever you give them, they live to eat. They can bloat by overeating, have they had their immunity shots?


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

That does seem like a lot to me as well. Do they have any grass/browse along with the hay? Are they going through the hay just as much? We have 4 1/2-7mo old boer doelings in a pen and they get 2-3lbs. each a day. We try to make sure they have grain out, but we've started limiting how much, not just keeping the feeders full anymore so that they will eat hay too. So there are a few hours in the afternoon they may not have grain, and a few hours in the morning before we go out to feed that they don't have anything. 
We want them to grow well, but there is absolutely no way we could afford to creep feed them 24/7. 
When the kids are finished showing in the fairs in a nother week or two we'll work on getting them used to 2 feedings a day.


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## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

It's so dry here there isn't much grass anymore. They eat most of the hay also. Usually they it's gone or there is half a flake left. These kids have been separated for a couple weeks now and before they were eating about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs a day. I think I'll put less in the feeder and make them eat more of the hay. I just don't want the bigger ones hogging the feeder and not letting the little ones eat as much.


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## BCG (Jun 30, 2012)

:shrug: Is it possible that they may be getting some outside help on eating the grain? Birds, raccoons, deer...? Over 5# of grain a day per r mth old kid seems quite excessive to me. Hmmm... :chin: :chin:


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

Can you put in a smaller amount of feed daily instead of every few days? They they don't pig it all out at once.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree about outside help. A month or so ago, when we had excessive heatwave, we were keeping the kids 4-H goats outside in their pen at night instead of bringing them in, and the ***** and possum were getting into their feed. They were also getting into the creep area and eating the feed we left out for the babies.
We ended up having to stop leaving anything out after feeding time we'd have to collect all the left overs. They were getting into our trash too, so we had to rig up our trash can to keep them out. Finally when the food was no longer there for them, they finally moved on.


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