The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Carl f k on October 20, 2012, 03:09:52 pm
-
So when I do get my goats what to feed them is a question???
-
Lots of good quality ad lib hay is the first thing. After that it depends on the job they are doing IMO.
I feed mine on dairy nuts meant for cows :goat: :goat: :goat: :goat:
-
^^ what the lovely lady said!!
-
Mine get hay ad lib, with plenty of grazing. But mine get Shetland sheep blend as you cant get dairy nuts up here! Also red rockie to lick at.
-
and make sure you have a good list of what NOT to feed them too. Will show you what we feed when you come over next week :)
-
and make sure you have a good list of what NOT to feed them too. Will show you what we feed when you come over next week :)
Cheers plums :thumbsup:
-
If you buy in an older goat you can have a hell of a job to try and change her habits.... my older GG does not like dairy nuts for example and prefer (expensive ::) ) goat mix.
But it is - in my personal opinion - best to feed the a variety of different feeds, which does give you some leeway if for example one runs out on Saturday afternoon, or merchant can't get hold of it for a few days. It also depends on how much you can store, for a few goats it is safer to have only one or two bags (20 or 25kgs) of feed stored, as it cannot be fed if it goes mouldy. A good METAL feed bin for storage is also essential - we have just today noticed that some rat droppings have appeared in the feed shed >:( ...
-
Yes, the trouble with goats is that they are not neat and tidy animals. They might leave some crumbs, or spill some food into their bedding, and it just attracts rats.....
I am currently waging my own small war...
Beth
-
I've got cats...no rats :innocent:
-
I've got cats... Even ones that catch rats! And we have a JR terrier who loves rat hunting. And still the rats keep appearing- I don't like poison because of the cats and dogs, but I do cave in occasionally.
Beth
-
and make sure you have a good list of what NOT to feed them too. Will show you what we feed when you come over next week :)
So will I.
We haven't had rats this year unless they are getting more sneaky and I haven't seen them. They live under the goat shed so they may have been washed out this year.
-
I've got (lots of) cheeky rats around the goat byre again >:( Think it will have to be poison for a while, much as I hate putting it down.
My goats get sheep coarse mix and diary nuts, plus hay as their basic diet, plus ReadiGrass and flaked maize as treats, and hedgerow branches.
-
Thanks MGM..... As for rats I got my trusty air rifle and nite vision :innocent:
-
I need an air rifle I think - for the jackdaws too!
If the idiots round here didn't drive faster than their brains operate, thus killing my cats on the road, I could have outdoor cats too. As it is, they just keep the inside of the house vermin-free ;)
-
got something nibbling in our feed/hay barns too. have left doors open and stuck snowball the cat outside on an empty stomach today. so far we've had one dead mouse from her.
not sure I'd be too good with our air rifle, not with my dodgy eyesight - likely to stick a shot in OH's bum or something :innocent:
-
not sure I'd be too good with our air rifle, not with my dodgy eyesight - likely to stick a shot in OH's bum or something :innocent:
Are you sure it would your eyesight that caused that?!
:innocent: :eyelashes:
-
That's one reason I don't have a proper rifle.
I have the Settle-Carlisle railway running along the back of my fields. I was always worried I'd miss the jackdaw, shoot a passenger, who would be discovered mysteriously dead, requiring a Poirot-type investigation when the train journey ended :roflanim:
not sure I'd be too good with our air rifle, not with my dodgy eyesight - likely to stick a shot in OH's bum or something
Are you sure it would your eyesight that caused that?!
;) :innocent:
-
not sure I'd be too good with our air rifle, not with my dodgy eyesight - likely to stick a shot in OH's bum or something
:roflanim: maybe not a bad thing..hope your sorting things there
-
When I first moved here (no cats) there were lots of rats.One day I was trying to feed the calves and put both buckets down and stood back a\nd watched.I counted 25 rats in the buckets and I was standing two feet away.The problem is I love them they are such smart survivors I hated putting poison out :(
-
Hey, it's good to hear someone say that :thumbsup:
I like rats too, I used to keep hooded ones as pets. I think they're smart and interesting, I just wish they weren't quite so successful :-\
-
I like rats too but not when they keep getting in the animal feeds.
In Scotland we used to get sacks of food scraps from the local filed study centre to feed to our chooks and whole families of rats would be round out feet with the chooks, vying for the best of the scraps (chocolate sponge pudding was a favourite).
-
Anybody been watching Wartime Farm?
They highlighted the problems with rats, you could see where they ran up and down the wood, rubbed dark and because they are constantly urinating. She suggested feeding them for a while then replacing food with poison.
One idea I'm going to try - mix plaster powder with rolled? barley, dry. Gives the SEVERE constipation. (read about that idea somewhere, not on wartime farm). Put some down a while ago and they nicked the plastic dish! OK - coffee jar top, I'll use a pot dish this time.
-
mix plaster powder with rolled? barley, dry
Nooooo!
I know they're seen as vermin and that no poison is kind, but we don't need to be more unpleasant than necessary :-\
-
Yeah, someone mentioned to me mixing dry cement with a bit of grain. Have to say I thought that sounded pretty hideous. Not that rat poison is nice, but.
Beth
-
the advantage of rat poison is it has an ingredient that desicates the bodies quickly so they don't smell as they break down!!!
-
Just got back from the merchants and bought this year's batch of rat poison... One thing the pest controller told me last year is to use WHOLEGRAIN poison for rats and cracked grains (wheat) for mice.
Let's hope it works again this year...
-
the advantage of rat poison is it has an ingredient that desicates the bodies quickly so they don't smell as they break down!!!
Can't agree with that, used some bait earlier this year and I was nearly sick with the smell from under the hay. We did try to find it but didn't find it till I was moving the bales 2 weeks ago. (and that was just one rat)
We also have other peoples cats wandering around, I don't want to be poisoning anything else.
We don't normally do too bad with rats, but chap in nearby barn started keeping pigs, only came up once a day to feed, and I know he was feeding bakery waste, (did wonder why there were lots of little foil dishes in our field). Anyway, that's when we became overrun with them, they said they couldn't use poison in case a pig ate a rat. They had to eventually. When he gave up with the pigs ratties all moved down here.
I'd go crazy if they were running round while I was feeding things. as to the thought of them peeing on the hay I'm handling then giving the goats to eat ! ! !.