The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: sokel on July 31, 2014, 10:09:59 pm

Title: Goats are happy today
Post by: sokel on July 31, 2014, 10:09:59 pm
Been to the wholesalers to buy bananas for the goats and they where at a great price for us.
18kg boxes of organic Bananas at £3 a box  :o so we came home with 5 boxes for them
why are Bananas so expensive in the shops when you can buy them at that price ?
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Lesley Silvester on July 31, 2014, 11:51:24 pm
That's a good buy.


My goats are happy today as well. Their hay delivery came this afternoon. We ran out on Tuesday.


I'm happy too. I was running out of stuff in the garden that I could cut down for them. All I need now is for the feed people to get a delivery in so I can pick up concentrates.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Mammyshaz on August 01, 2014, 07:57:23 am
That's cheap!  Keep feeding them bananas and you could have a good outlet  goat banana milkshake  :yum:
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Trixie on August 01, 2014, 08:12:53 am
Gosh that is a great price! We haven't got a wholesaler around here I have to get mine from Aldi at 68p a kilo and water melons are good price at the minute so they get that too, apples and pears from farmfoods although orchard fruit will soon be ready to pick, so that will save a bit, then the cabbages goat mix etc. Thinking about it our girls eat better than we do!! Lol - but they are happy.  I would think they add a lot on the price to pay for the transport,storage, wages etc of all the middle men down the line, we buy cabbages from a small farmer between £2 - £6 for a box/net depending on weight and sort of cabbage, if I had to buy that from supermarkets it would cost me much more.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Dogwalker on August 01, 2014, 10:24:22 am
A great price for you but not much for the growers is it, presuming somes been added for the shipping.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: sokel on August 01, 2014, 11:10:21 am
They are always between £3.50 and £5 a box for single bananas but yesterday they where organic bunches.
We also got a full box of pink lady apples (48 apples) for £4
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Womble on August 01, 2014, 11:31:30 am
A great price for you but not much for the growers is it, presuming somes been added for the shipping.

Indeed, but in Sokel's defence, if he'd bought them from the Supermarket, the growers would still have been paid the same. It's not enough of course, but seeing the wholesale price like that does make it obvious just how little of the money we spend goes to the folks who do most of the work!!
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Lesley Silvester on August 01, 2014, 03:57:57 pm
Good point, Womble.


I still wish I had a wholesaler's like that round here. Or knew a farm where I could buy cabbages at £2 - £6 a box.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: JedM on August 01, 2014, 06:03:25 pm
I have never tried feeding bananas to my goats.  I never realised they would like those.   What other old veg do they eat?  My goats are very fussy though!!
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: sokel on August 01, 2014, 06:36:15 pm
Everything we buy is human grade fruit and veg from a fruit and veg wholesalers
the list is endless for the fruit and veg that our lot eat
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Anke on August 01, 2014, 06:40:39 pm
I have never tried feeding bananas to my goats.  I never realised they would like those.   What other old veg do they eat?  My goats are very fussy though!!

Trial and error - just offer them and see. Obviously no onions and the like, also no citrus fruits.

Mine like.: apples, pears, bananas (incl peel), any sort of cabbage, bean stalks (fresh), carrots, courgettes  :thumbsup:, kohlrabi etc etc.

I cut my carrots (pony carrots for 2 quid per large bag!) into sticks, apples etc into thin slices.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Trixie on August 01, 2014, 09:50:50 pm
When we started out we were told to cut carrots/parsnips etc into sticks, but off the menu at the minute as they just don't last this time of year so waste of money. Ours also £2 for a net
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Lesley Silvester on August 01, 2014, 10:57:11 pm
Peaches and other stone fruit go down well. They will also just eat the banana skins. Most of our friends now know to save all the banana skins for our goats. And mine love chopped swede.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Roxy on August 02, 2014, 12:54:19 am
Those bananas were cheap!!  Some of my goats like the skins better than the banana itself.  I go to the horse sale on a Saturday sometimes, as carrots are £1 a net, so I get 5, to do the goats and the pigs.  Also in the village we have a cheap greengrocers.  Have all sorts of veg and fruit on offer.  Quite often cabbages are 10p each, and we get a big box - which pleases the shop owner!!
 
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Lesley Silvester on August 02, 2014, 01:23:10 am
I'm clearly in the wrong place. My local shop does give me old and damaged fruit and veg but not very often.
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: sokel on August 02, 2014, 03:42:50 am
We have to do a 70 mile round trip to get ours but even paying the petrol it works out cheaper. We usually just tie it in with something else we need to do
We can Also go to the big wholesale market on the team valley but it means a 6am set off from home. When we do go there we could fill the horse box full with free fruit /veg that is past it's best but as we don't have pigs at the moment we can't get it used quick enough on the goats alone
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Treud na Mara on August 02, 2014, 03:30:43 pm
Going straight out to try our girls with some banana - maybe they are undercover Minions !  :roflanim:
Title: Re: Goats are happy today
Post by: Treud na Mara on August 02, 2014, 05:49:29 pm
Nope - not undercover Minions our girls .....but maybe I am nom nom nom nom nom!  Pity I've run out of horse treats for them.