# How much chow do you feed your pygmies?



## TNP (Sep 26, 2009)

Right now I'm feeding them 16% sweet goat chow, 1/2 cup each, once a day. They get orchard grass hay all day and night. They're 3 months old. Do I need to increase the chow as they get older, or is 1/2 cup all they need? They are doelings. They will not be bred, and they will not be used for milk, just pets.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

During the major growth phase....up to a year old, mine get 1/2 cup twice a day and all the hay/browse they want. Then at 1 tear I back off to 1/2 cup once a day.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I would do as Liz recommends. Once they reach a year those little ones just start packing on the weight, which isnt healthy, but while really growing they need it so no you dont have to up it, you will want to back off once they mature


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## TNP (Sep 26, 2009)

Ok, thanks! I'll increase it to 1 cup a day then, and go back to 1/2 cup when they're a year old.


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## TNP (Sep 26, 2009)

If I increase it to 1 cup each, is it ok to feed it all at once, or does it have to be split up into 2 feedings? I've been getting them used to getting the chow at night only, because once I let them out to browse, I want to use the chow as an incentive to turn in for the night.


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## cdtrum (Aug 25, 2008)

Don't know if it matters, but I split mine into 2x's a day........just what I started and now that's what they expect.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

believe me if you feed them in the morning they still will be clamming for it at night 

they probably can handle that much at once though I dont tend to since i do feed twice a day


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## RowdyKidz (Apr 2, 2009)

I feed them in the AM, 1/4 a cup. And the PM, 1/4.  All ages and sizes. I decrease it for preggy girls.  And hay 24/7.


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## TNP (Sep 26, 2009)

Speaking of hay, I feed hay 24/7, and my girls are being awfully picky. They refuse to eat any of the stalky parts. I tried to make them eat it before they get new, but they'll scream all day long for the "good" stuff when they get down to the stalky part, and OMG Cheyenne has a voice you can hear all over the neighborhood when she's not happy, so eventually I give in. I don't like all this hay waste.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Mine won't touch stemmy hay either, especially once it's been stripped....I use that for bedding and give them fresh.....if it doesn't look appetizing to me I don't expect them to either :wink:


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## cdtrum (Aug 25, 2008)

I do the same as Liz.......my boys love picking through the stemmy hay to get the good stuff, but will not touch the stems........it goes to the floor for extra bedding or out to the chicken coop floor.


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## TNP (Sep 26, 2009)

When I was first researching goats, I read on a breeder's site that you should not refill until they eat the stems, because the stems are good roughage for them. :?


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

My almost five-year old dry girls get 1/2 cup grain in the morning and free-choice hay. I refill hay feeders morning and night and mid-afternoon if necessary, usually it isn't. 

Our girls refuse to eat the stemmy part too. So it goes for bedding. If there is only a little stemmy hay left I just refill the feeder without removing it. Sometimes when I come back out, it will be mostly gone but for the most part, no goat will touch it unless they are really hungry.


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

We feed them only once a day and they do just fine but 2x a day is better.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

My 2 currently get 1 cup of alfalfa pellets, 1 cup of Goat sweet grain each daily. Plus right now lots of grass hay, but I'm buying more hay in the next few weeks, some great alfalfa mix hay.


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## 3pygmymom (Nov 17, 2009)

The newbie has another question  I give my three each a half cup in the morning and half cup in the evening they are 9, 8 and 6 months. They get hay morning and night but is it ok to let them out into the pasture during the day to browse while I'm at work? I have been letting them out when it is nice weather. The other thing is my kids tossed the pumpkins in there will these make them sick if I let them out? They have their pen off of their barn that is about 100 ft. long and about 50 ft. wide at the widest but is shaped like a wedge so the narrowest near the barn is about 25 ft. Thanks!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

of course you can let your goats out to pasture whenever you want. 

As to the pumpkins -- the only thing with that is eating to much of the pumpkins can give them the runs. But chances are they will turn their noses up at the pumpkins since it is somethign new and they are to large for them to eat. Now the insides they love!


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## 3pygmymom (Nov 17, 2009)

They did manage to get the pumpkins open however I think it took them all day to put the cracks in them lol! I got home to find them each rolling a pumpkin around with their horns and nibbling here and there. Later in the evening the two bull calfs beat them to the finish by stepping on them and devouring the insides.........so I don't think I need to worry much more! We gave the goats a few corn shocks in their pen and they nibbled on those. Now I am noticing they arent drinking as much and I have been giving warm water in the morning, maybe I should make it steamy????


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

What I do when I want mine to drink more is to either make them warm molasses water or even add the knock off gatorade to their buckets, mine really like the fruit punch flavor.


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## 3pygmymom (Nov 17, 2009)

I am going to scrub the water bucket out and then try the gatorade, they arent drinking the steamy water either and they havent been eating much hay but maybe because they have been out in the meadow during the day???


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If they are out browsing all day, then they are getting their fill. You can try to put hay in their racks at night even if they don't want it at that time, it's there for them to get a quick bite before they go to the field.


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## 3pygmymom (Nov 17, 2009)

I noticed that they are in the taller sections of the field when i come home and are just happy wandering and munching, until they see me pull in then they race to fence gate cause they know I cannot resist loving on them! I think they were drinking out of the sheeps trough during the day that is why the water was slowly going down. We have been putting small amounts of hay out at night and they seem to just be pulling out and using it for their nests! Sneaky lil buggers!


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## Steph (May 7, 2009)

I notice that my nigi's eat less hay when they are out munching on the grass or browse. I try to make sure they get a little hay before I put them out in the yard. Greens here in PA are getting to be almost gone. Our yard is about all they have left.


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## 3pygmymom (Nov 17, 2009)

our field still is green in some strips, and that is where they browse. I have noticed people saying they give BOSS to their goats, is this shell and all? And, is it the same you would buy to feed the birds?? I'm still learning!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Yep, the entire sunflower seed is fed and it's the same as what you would get for birds. Introduce slowly if you choose to give it to them, some goats will try to be piggys over new goodies and can possibly choke.


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## Steph (May 7, 2009)

Black oil sunflower seeds, I buy the kind for the birds and my goats love them.


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