The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Connor on January 01, 2014, 06:24:28 pm
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I am currently feeding her sheep meal one scoop in morning and at night. She is also getting home grow organic hay in the middle part of the day. Is this enough for her or should I be feeding something else should she have a mineral lick?
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Hi Connor,
Yes she should have a mineral lick- a copper rich one as sheep feed doesn't have as much copper in it as goats need. As to whether that is enough food, that depends on what she is doing. Is she milking? Or pregnant? In which case she might need a bit more.
She would appreciate some green food, obviously it is winter just now, but some chopped up cabbage, carrots, apple or banana would suffice. Alfalfa or dried grass is a good bit of variety as well. You don't mention any grain at all, I would probably be giving her a handful of oats/barley/wheat (generally bruised or flaked for preference) as well as the sheep food.
Beth
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Can my goat share a mineral lick with my sheep??
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No, because too much Copper is toxic to sheep, but goats need more Copper than sheep do. You would need to let the goat only have access to a copper mineral lick.
Beth
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where do i get copper rich ones cos my local farming supplies shop sells them but dont know which one to buy??
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Red Rockies is what you want for your goats, but not let the sheep get to it.
Hay ad lib all the time.
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What is ad lib have heard this before but don't know what it means??
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ad lib = as and when she wants it
ours have hay racks & rings filled through the day/night, concentrate/barley morning and afternoon and a lick. Took the girls over to the far side of the croft for an hour today where there is a big old fallen tree and they spent their time jumping off and eating the bark, nice to see them get a good leg stretch after being cooped up for weeks because of the rain :raining:
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Mine have Allen and Page Dairy Goat mix (the also do a dry goat mix), with some soaked sugar beet and dairy nuts. Also a bucket of Justgrass and ad lib hay. They also have warm water in winter as they prefer it.
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I check and fill hay racks 3 or 4 times a day (though they waste a lot of hay - I need advice on hay racks!). In the morning they get half a mug of goat mix and a mug of mixed flake, with caprivite minerals, evening they get sheep mix, (apart from one who demands goat mix ::) , they have red rockies in their hay racks, pressed against the front mesh. When it's cold they get warm soaked sugar beet.
I pour boiling water over wheat and leave it overnight to soften, just a very small handfull each
I feed before milking, then my running-thru milker gets her extra after milking.
I like to keep the concentrates low if in kid, after reading books I believe feeding too much in the first 3 months can lead to large kids and problems.
Plenty of hay/roughage is the main thing.
sacks of 'pony' carrots are available through the winter - my goats love em
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Connor......................some excellent advice on here. There is a little more that I would like to add. Goats & sheep have only 1 similarity and that is size. They are, in fact, very nearly the same as a cow BUT have a metabolic rate that is 3 times faster. They require the same mineral intake as a cow.....possibly more so.
I feed all mine (50) with cattle grower or dairy nuts. This ensures they get an adequate nutrition.............some goats will use mineral blocks but many use them as a playtoy, which means additional expense replacing them all the time.
Sheep cannot get rid of excess copper....it is stored in the liver. Goats can which is why toxicity in goats is incredibly unlikely.
For years because of the size comparison, goats have been treated like sheep but now so much more is known, they are being treated as an individual species.