The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Anke on May 18, 2011, 09:42:56 am
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Are there any potential problems with feeding horsehage/haylage (bought from fed merchants and certified) to kids? I am very low on hay by now, and have just switched my milkers/goatlings back to haylage (the agrimerchants are loving me right now! 2 bales a week!), but was wondering about putting the kids ont it.
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My kids eat the haylage off the big bales we have, although I prefer it if its quite dry for the young ones, to prevent scours. Never had a problem up to press. Although I do prefer the youngsters to have hay if possible, but given the bad weather last year, and the quality of some of the hay, thats not been possible all the time.
None of my goats willl eat the small bales of haylage which are commercially bagged, such as haylage, and the ponies turn their noses up too. I found this out when I got a bale to take to a show last summer, and tried to feed the goats the leftover out of the bale the following day.....they did eat it eventually, but were not keen.
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horsehage is no problem, but there are better ones on the market. Horsehage is too coarse really... if it is the Marksway Horsehage.
You will usually find there are some local made/wrapped ones in small bales descrobed simply as haylage.
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Well you should have seen my hay this last winter - it was NOT meadow hay.... but the goats ate it quite well, but have now decided that it is better to lie on.... I guess it is getting late in the season. I fed quite a bit of haylage during the winter too, used Silvermoor.
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I get a local agricultural contractor to drop off a mini heston of haylage. He makes it to sell for horse feed but all my goats eat it including the kids. The rabbits eat it as well.
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My friend uses silvermoor for her horse, and it is excellent stuff ......you can get giant bales of it too.
The best haylage I have had came from the coast over near Blackpool - quite dry, and lovely smell. Ponies and goats loved it, then when we ran out and had to go onto something different ....oh dear!!
At the moment goats are on some lovely big baled meadow hay from Lancashire.