# Alfalfa Pellets



## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

My doe does not like alfalfa pellets. I have given her All Stock before, like 5 months ago and she mostly eats the corn. Been giving her, alfalfa hay for almost 2 months now and maybe she might like the pellets now, or not. I was considering giving my does pellets to lessen the amount of alfalfa hay that they eat. They've been eating a half bale every 2 weeks and a half a bale alfalfa cost 20 dollars here. Is there a particular alfalfa pellet that goats like?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

All you can do is try a brand.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Mine don't like any lol. But what I've been doing is cutting their daily hay back and it took a few days but they got the hint and started to eat them.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Mine hate it to. 

What you can try is, put a little, just a pinch and swirl it around in the grain, so they get a taste for it, or put some in their mouth until they start eating it.
Gradually increase the Alfalfa pellets, until they start going on it good.


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## ilovegoats (Nov 27, 2013)

I have the same problem with both of my goats they wont even touch the pellets, theu around them


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I think honestly what it is is that they are hard pellets and they don't like that. I grind the pellets up for the kids and they suck it down. I was also grinding them for my bucks but they liked them way to much since I only have them out there because their hay feeder isn't overly large and it's more of a back up if they need extra.


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## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

So I am going to attempt to replace feeding my goats alfalfa hay with alfalfa pellets. I was gonna let the alfalfa hay run out and then try to feed them the pellets. Actually I was just thinking, I could just try now and not give them the alfalfa hay and maybe give them alfalfa hay once in a while, as a treat or something. I am currently feeding my goats 50% Timothy and 50% Alfalfa hay, 2 cups grain for one of my does and a cup for my other doe. So what I was wondering was, how many cups of alfalfa pellets should I give them?


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## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

Oh yeah! Forgot I have to give them gradually but eventually how much should I give them?


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

Funny thing is, on the stand or out of the pen, mine HATE any kind of pellet. Bring them INTO the pen, and oh gosh, they're the coolest thing since dirt :lol: 
If you're going to switch totally to alfalfa pellets, I would just leave them out for them free choice like you do with loose minerals. And when they run out of hay, they run out. They'll eat the pellets when they're hungry enough.
I personally would give them a bit of hay for the roughage, but I've read it's not necessary.


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## Summersun (Apr 24, 2014)

Try different brands. I noticed that the pellets I get at tractor supply are bigger than what I get at my local feed store. The ones at the feed store are regular pellet size like most other goat or horse feeds. Much easier for my mini foals and goats to eat. Mine likes anything in a bucket over hay. They have even accidentally gotten into pig, horse, rabbit and cow feeds because anything coming from a bag or in a bucket is awesome to them. Lmao. 

Right now mine get Noble goat, alfalfa pellets, rabbit pellets I had left from a rabbit I no longer have, boss and beet pulp (left over from nursing mares who are now off grain until spring). Plus alfalfa/grass mix hay.


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## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> Funny thing is, on the stand or out of the pen, mine HATE any kind of pellet. Bring them INTO the pen, and oh gosh, they're the coolest thing since dirt :lol:
> If you're going to switch totally to alfalfa pellets, I would just leave them out for them free choice like you do with loose minerals. And when they run out of hay, they run out. They'll eat the pellets when they're hungry enough.
> I personally would give them a bit of hay for the roughage, but I've read it's not necessary.





Summersun said:


> Try different brands. I noticed that the pellets I get at tractor supply are bigger than what I get at my local feed store. The ones at the feed store are regular pellet size like most other goat or horse feeds. Much easier for my mini foals and goats to eat. Mine likes anything in a bucket over hay. They have even accidentally gotten into pig, horse, rabbit and cow feeds because anything coming from a bag or in a bucket is awesome to them. Lmao.
> 
> Right now mine get Noble goat, alfalfa pellets, rabbit pellets I had left from a rabbit I no longer have, boss and beet pulp (left over from nursing mares who are now off grain until spring). Plus alfalfa/grass mix hay.


Thanks for the GREAT ideas! I have actually been feeding my goats twice a day and there's a good amount of wasted hay. If I go once a day and let the hay run out, they'll eat the pellets. And at the end of the week less hay clean up and save money from wasted hay too. Well, that's the theory at least. I will also try another type of alfalfa pellet. Today I actually went our tractor store and they gave me a price for a different type pellet. I will try that. I don't know if our tractor store carries beet pulp, something I can try giving later and my goat also does not like BOSS and that will probably be another different thread. So I'm looking forward to trying that idea and I will tell you how it goes.


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## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

I will try to see if they also have Noble Goat too. Sounds like a good idea. They need the extra copper.


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## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

I thought mine hated alfalfa pellets at first because nobody would touch them. I was buying them from southern states and the alfalfa pellets were coming from Canada. Well, once I ran out I bought some from TSC which are made by standalee and they loved them. They also loved the ones made by Bartlett. The only difference is that the ones from Canada were extremely hard and they others were not. So I figured they wouldn't eat them because they are such a really hard pellet because they still won't eat them.


Samantha

"5 minutes of fresh air is equivalent to 5 mg Valium"


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## guessa1 (Jun 11, 2014)

We break up alfalfa cubes into smaller bite size pieces...it IS a chore everyday  but our goats love them.


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## J-Mes (Feb 11, 2014)

So I purchased Standalee alfalfa pellets and I was going to offer it to them as free choice but I when I gave it to them, they ate it all up. Somehow they liked it. Maybe it was the brand and type of pellet. Anyways, that solves the problem of them eating alfalfa pellets. So now I will be giving them free choice timothy hay but how much grain and alfalfa pellets do you give per goat per day?


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## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

Depends on the goats. My bred does get 1 lb a day. My doelings get free choice (between the three they eat about 2 lbs a day). I'm not a heavy grain feeder. I feed BOSS along with my alfalfa pellets in the evenings and then they get fermented oats, barley, and cracked corn in the morning. Each bred doe gets 2 cups of the fermented grains and the doelings get one. 


Samantha

"5 minutes of fresh air is equivalent to 5 mg Valium"


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## audrey (Jul 17, 2012)

I hate buying alfalfa pellets from feed stores, they are so often made with poor quality alfalfa. I get mine from the feed mill, they are fresh, and high quality. Glad you found a brand your does like though!


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