# Anyone feed grass hay w/ alfalfa pellets to dairy goats?



## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

Just as the title says, wanting to know if anyone here feeds grass hay and supplements alfalfa pellets for alfalfa hay for their dairy goats?

If so what is your routine? Like how much of the pellets per goat, what other grain (if any) do you feed? How much hay? etc. Also mention what kind of goats you are feeding. 


Thanks!


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## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

We do!! Not sure how helpful I'll be though. 

It's nearly impossible to find alfalfa hay here, so I started with alfalfa pellets and have now switched to chaffhaye for the winter. The chaffhaye has helped their rumen function now that they don't have as much browse. We offer free choice Bermuda mix hay and loose minerals. Then in the morning I give them a red solo cup full of sweetfeed/noble goat, a sprinkling of BOSS, a sprinkle of minerals, and an oatmeal container full of chaffhaye. I know, I know, we're real scientific around here. That's for two minimanchas, and they're in perfect condition but it has taken some tweaking!! When I was feeding pellets I'd give about three red solo cups worth of pellets and one of my noble goat with BOSS. They did well on that over summer but when winter came they thinned out a little so I switched. I also have beet pulp but haven't started introducing it yet. I may hold off on that.


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

Chaffhaye is really expensive around here. I checked into that I think last year? I can't remember for sure. A friend posted something about it on facebook so I started researching it but between the price of it and the fact I would have to drive over an hour one way to get it made it too pricey. My grass hay is $4 a bale for 80-100lb bales. Alfalfa hay is expensive here anywhere from like $5-8 a bale and it's for light bales...like 50ish pound bales. 

I really like the alfalfa pellets because of the zero waste. That is why I have decided to go that route, free choice grass hay with alfalfa pellets.


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## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

We're able to get chaffhaye at our farm co-op for $15 a bale, alfalfa pellets here are $11 a bag around the same size. We have no waste from the chaffhaye but will probably switch back to pellets this summer when they have more roughage in their diets. We're not even able to find alfalfa hay, at all. I've been looking for six months and there's just nothing available.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I used to give Chaffhaye but I switched to alfalfa pellets because of price. I also feed alfalfa grass hay too.


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

I found the receipt from the elevator, its $26.90 for 100lbs of alfalfa pellets. So $13.45 per bag. And the elevator is local to. 

We use to get alfalfa hay. It was sooooooooooo nice. My goats loved it and done VERY VERY well on it. Had that hay for probably a good 5 years or more....then the farmer decided to plant crops in his alfalfa field.  We lost our good alfalfa hay. He never raised the price like the other folks around here. He would raise it to make up for rising fuel costs but when people were charging $8-12 a bale for alfalfa one year he charged me $6-7 a bale.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I feed grass/Teff mix hay and alfalfa pellets... Free choice on both.


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

5-8 $ a bale!!!! That great lol where I am its 22$ per light bale for alfalfa and 5-10$ for a light bale of grass hay. I buy the grass hay and the alfalfa pellets because they are the cheapest option round here. I wanna say the alfalfa pellets here are 11$ for about a 10 pound bag. I dont really have a meauring system i just kinda eyeball it for each goat and go by handfulls lol. So far ita been working and they are all in perfect condition. Half a handfull for the non milking little does, one big handfulls for the bigger non milking does and roughly two big handfulls for milking does. Thats not including grain or anything its gets tweaked when grain is involved but i usually only give grain to milking or skinnny goats. As for the grass hay a bale a month is about what i go through for 5 goats and a sheep and i eyeball that too. Im Not very helpful with all my eyeballing am I Lol!!!


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

> I feed grass/Teff mix hay and alfalfa pellets... Free choice on both.


Free choice? How many goats (what kind)? How fast do you go through say 50lbs?


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## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

goathiker said:


> I feed grass/Teff mix hay and alfalfa pellets... Free choice on both.


How has it gone offering alfalfa pellets free choice? I've been considering doing that but wasn't sure how it'd interfere once they're pregnant/kidding/milking.


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

MoonShadow said:


> 5-8 $ a bale!!!! That great lol where I am its 22$ per light bale for alfalfa and 5-10$ for a light bale of grass hay. I buy the grass hay and the alfalfa pellets because they are the cheapest option round here. I wanna say the alfalfa pellets here are 11$ for about a 10 pound bag. I dont really have a meauring system i just kinda eyeball it for each goat and go by handfulls lol. So far ita been working and they are all in perfect condition. Half a handfull for the non milking little does, one big handfulls for the bigger non milking does and roughly two big handfulls for milking does. Thats not including grain or anything its gets tweaked when grain is involved but i usually only give grain to milking or skinnny goats. As for the grass hay a bale a month is about what i go through for 5 goats and a sheep and i eyeball that too lol.


I am feeding 12 goats in the main herd and 3 mature bucks and 1 kid.

A bale a month? wow lol I'm feeding a bale a day! Sometimes more! (Just goats. I have horses as well so actually I am feeding anywhere from 1.5 to 3 bales.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

3 does, 1 Alpine/Nubian and her half LaMancha yearlings. They go through 50 lbs. a week.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

fcdairygoats said:


> My grass hay is $4 a bale for 80-100lb bales. Alfalfa hay is expensive here anywhere from like $5-8 a bale and it's for light bales...like 50ish pound bales.


Pfft, pricey :lol: Our grass hay out here is up to $26 per 100lb bale, and the 100lb alfalfa bales are $18-23 depending on the feed store. If I could get grass hay for $4 a bale my animals would be set! I'm moving to your state!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Hope you like wind, floods, and snow Lacie :lol:


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> Pfft, pricey :lol: Our grass hay out here is up to $26 per 100lb bale, and the 100lb alfalfa bales are $18-23 depending on the feed store. If I could get grass hay for $4 a bale my animals would be set! I'm moving to your state!


The prices I listed are pricey for me. I work retail part time and go to school full time, and I have to pay for part of my schooling out of pocket to. 



> Hope you like wind, floods, and snow Lacie


Funny you say that.....its been windy here the past ???? I lost count how many days......all that rain we had the past few days has left my horse pasture flooded and the goat pens are muddy. We had a tiny bit of snow this year...I bet we get hit with snow in Jan and Feb. We also been having super cold weather those months as well...past two years we have had negative temps with 20-30 below zero windchills. 2 years ago I was doing chores in a -45*F windchill.....Indiana should not ever be that cold! lol


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

lol expensive at 5-8 a bale? The average here is 10-12 a bale not even that heavy. I drive hour and a half round trip to get mine or pay the 1.50 extra a bale to have it delivered and stacked. But here is the deal with Alfalfa vs. grass. You dont have to feed as much and its much better for them. So if you think about it, other then a nice little drive to pick up a ton or two ever so often, its worth the cost.

I dont know what you are paying for a bag of alfalfa pellets but at 50lbs, its about half a heavy as a alfalfa bale. I will concede they dont get to waist much in pellet form. But if you like the way you are feeding, and its more cost effective, its just fine.


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

I'm pretty close to you, and can't find really good alfalfa. I feed a timothy/grass hay, free choice, about 4 cups of alfalfa pellets (cut into two feedings) and a nice 16% show goat grain cut into 2 feedings - how much of this depends on if they are dry, pregnant or milking. Also free choice minerals, cobalt block and kelp. They are doing very well - I like less waste feeding the pellets... I have nubians.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

I just added alfalfa pellets to my goats' diet a couple of months ago. They honestly don't even like it, and they easily got bloat from eating too much (which was maybe a handful and a half). The girls in milk get about a handful a day, with their grain. But, they eat around the pellets and mostly just eat the grain  so in the end I don't know how much good it's really doing for anyone. 
Not sure how useful that information is, but that's been my experience so far.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Check the ingredients of your pellets and make sure they are 100% alfalfa. Some brands contain a lot of corn and/or grain by-products. 
There is something wrong if they are bloating on that tiny amount.


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## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

That's strange, my girls never bloated on pellets and they loved them! They preferred them to grain actually.


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## wndngrvr (Dec 10, 2011)

I use the chaffhaye - a bucketful (I use buckets from the milk replacer so they aren't all that big), morning and evening. Then they get some orchard grass am and pm. Feeders filled with grass hay all day. Alfalfa is wasted so bad by my girls that probably the chaffhaye is cheaper in the end as there is no waste. Mine won't touch an alfalfa pellet. Hay here is so expensive. At the feed store alfalfa is $20-22. bale, field hay is 14-15. Chaffehaye is 15. -for a 50lb sack but price is a little lower if I buy a ton at a time. I mix wet cob with a little sunflower seeds and calf manna for their grain. These little devils are eating us out of house and home - but they are staying so healthy. Plus they get a forest walk pretty much every day and get the browse they need.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

On alfalfa pellets.... I noticed that my goats will not touch the Standlee alfalfa pellets, but they love the haystack brand.... The Standlee brand is a lot darker in color whereas the haystack is a lot brighter green....


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

fcdairygoats said:


> A bale a month? wow lol I'm feeding a bale a day! Sometimes more! (Just goats. I have horses as well so actually I am feeding anywhere from 1.5 to 3 bales.


I kick them out to pasture even during winter months and I don't feed hay in summer because its so lush and green round here that if I gave them hay everything would turn jungle on me Haha. Our winters are mild so there is still grass and browse to munch on most of the time(we have gotten the occasional heavy snow storm. . . which I love lol ) so that's mostly why I only go through a bale a month, plus I don't feed free choice because then they only eat the hay and don't leave the barn, like ever:shock: they just sit in there all day having a grand time and making havoc:cheers:.


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

If I made my goats go out and eat now they would starve to death. Winter in Indiana=no browse. But if I lived any where else I wouldn't even have them cuz I refuse to pay more for hay than I pay now. I still find the prices around here expensive...because it's expensive to me. Doesn't mean everyone has to agree that they are expensive. 

For the pellets, I have fed them in the past never had issues with goats bloating or getting sick off of small amounts. Do make sure to check the pellets ingredients and look at the pellets themselves as well. One time I bought two bags of alfalfa pellets and there was something mixed in with it. I have no clue what but it definitely did NOT belong. it's was little white/off white particles that were round, ball shape. They were tiny but noticeable. I took them back, got my money back, and switched to the other elevator.

I can't remember what brand the pellets are now....I will try to remember to pay attention when I go get more pellets from the elevator.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Alfalfa pellets are fine to feed free choice even. Very little waste if any. I usually feed alfalfa pellets that are sold for horses rather than what is markes for goats. Mine don't eat the regular alfalfa pellets, it has to be a horse stable pellet or whatever. They usually use crappy alfalfa to make livestock feed, but horse feed is always way better quality.
But make sure you ask what the size of the pellet is. Some brands of pellets are the size of small birds! Not even alfalfa cubes, but seriously pellets for an elephant I swear.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

goathiker said:


> Check the ingredients of your pellets and make sure they are 100% alfalfa. Some brands contain a lot of corn and/or grain by-products.
> There is something wrong if they are bloating on that tiny amount.


Well, it sure seemed like small amount to me, but when I gave them a little less the bloat went away (it was never very serious). I can check the ingredients, though. Never know what's being added these days. The pellets sure look and smell like just grass.

I just found it rather funny that I was trying to give them this healthy stuff, thinking they would like it, and they just spit it out or eat around it...


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

Some goats that are not use to it will be iffy at first. I had several that had never had alfalfa pellets. It took them awhile to take to them. Adagio was really picky about it for the longest time.


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## Lauras2shy (Mar 28, 2015)

So I have Nigerian dwarfs. 5 males (looking to sell two or more bucks) and three does. I have been giving them alfalfa pellets ( it has to be the mountain sunrise brand) they won't eat the big alfalfa pellets. I give them free choice grade a Bermuda hay. Two servings of noble goat dairy and sweet feed, once in the morning and one at night. Give them minerals minerals free choice. I live in Tucson, Az and right now you can get alfalfa #2 for 8.50 a bale. If anybody is interested in registered AGS bucks give me a shout out.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Up here in my part of Maine you can't get alfalfa hay, the weather is not good for drying it. So, yes, I feed alfalfa pellets. Grass hay mixed with weeds and small saplings are the norm for hay up here. Because of the rain we get, the first crop isn't usually cut until after July 4th, if not later. 

I bounce around on the concentrates that I feed, depending on stage of lactation/growth, pregnancy etc. Basically, I mix a 20% protein, high energy dairy pellet with whole native oats. I add Rice bran meal for extra fat and in the cooler weather and winter I feed soaked beet pulp mixed with their concentrates.

The % of pellet vs oat varies with stage of production the doe (buck or kid) is in decides what protein % they get. I juggle the feeds to adjust the protein and fat %. Some days I feel like a mad scientist. 

I feed 1 pound of concentrate (not counting the beet pulp) per 2 pounds of milk produced at 16% to 20% depending on how far along their lactation is. The protein and fat % changes with life stage the goat is at. Mostly, my dry does get 1 pound of concentrate a day (at approx 16%), which raises up to 1 1/2 a month before kidding. This does not count the beet pulp. Growing kids get 1/2 to 1 pound per day (20%) depending on age and size. Bucks get the same, pretty much, just a lower protein %. My Nigie buck gets 1/2 pound a day, my standards get 1 pound which goes up during breeding season. They get soaked beet pulp also, in addition to the concentrates. However, my bucks get a meat goat grower that contains AC and has a lower protein (16%) verses the dairy pellet at 20%.

All goats get fed grass hay 3 times a day unless it is frigid, then they get an extra feeding. 

All goats get fed the concentrates and beet pulp twice a day along with loose minerals free choice and copper bolus twice a year.

I have 20 dairy goats: 
3 are bucks- 1 mature Lamancha, 1 mature Nigerian and 1 coming yearling Nubian

3 weanlings does- 1 Nubian and 2 Lamanchas
the rest are Nubian and Lamancha does with 1 Oberhasli and 1 Alpine. Yearling FF up to mature does.


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## Esther88 (Nov 11, 2012)

Here in southern AZ there is zero browse. I've always fed my goats alfalfa pellets for horses with zero issues. They gobble them up and there's no waste. They do get bermuda and alfalfa hay as well though.


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