The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: katie on February 21, 2012, 08:49:23 pm
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My two Togs are coming up to their last two weeks of pregnancy. Their breeder says they should be having 3lb of feed each per feed. There's no way they will eat that much - despite being well and having appetite for concentrate, hay, veg etc. It's just the amount. I've started splitting it into 3 feeds a day but they still leave loads.
Help. What do you do?
Thanks
K
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If they won't eat it ... I guess they don't think they need it!
Goats are, I find, pretty good at knowing whats good for them (in terms of good food, not the toxic stuff some them have trouble with!)
do they have alot of veg? Maybe filling their bellies with this in preference to the concentrate?
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Hi, little blue. They don't have much- just a carrot and half a banana.
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that shouldnt make any difference then!
what concentrate are you feeding them?
do you know its % protein?
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Weigh their food and also how much they leave, that way you can see if you are worrying about nothing.... If they eat about 4lbs in total per day, plus fruit/veg (and they are in good condition) they should be ok.
In the last two weeks I normally feed four meals, with the last one a smaller late-night snack, as by then I will be checking at 10pm anyway.
However I have found that quite often they do not eat that much anymore. I also switch to lower protein goat mix (mine is 15%) in the last 6 weeks, and they get a mixture of that, sugarbeet shreds soaked (and weighed soaked) and rolled oats. PLus carrots, any fruit and veg that is around and they like; on top of their rations.
If they eat most of their feed, and don't start all of a sudden to become really picky and look like they have lost interest in eating all together I wouldn't worry. However if they do - drench with either twin lamb stuff or propylene glycol fairly quick.
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Thanks. They do seem interested in eating - just not a huge amount. I'll check the protein in the morning but I think it's eighteen per cent.
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Yes, it is 18%. Can you recommend one with lower protein level?