[langdon]

which of these works out cheaper ?
what is the different mixes e.g. barley, alfa etc that makes up the feed and what amount of each does it need?
would try if it works out cheaper then buying in the feed ( pellets )
hope i have made sense of this !
thanks langdon

[katie]

If you start mixing your own feed from straights, you may have to register with Animal Health. Just a note of caution!

[ballingall]

I don't think you need to register with Animal Health for mixing your own mix for goats, but I have heard you need to for pigs....


We use mostly ready prepared sheep and goat mixes, and just add some flaked barley and flaked peas to that. Have never found our goats will eat just pellets purely on their own- a shame because they are cheaper! We do give the milkers some cattle dairy nuts though, which they eat with their mix. The best way to find out quantities is to probably check the labels for ready made mixes Langdon


Beth

[langdon]

thanks beth, the girls eat pellets straight.
reason why im asking is the owners who have a billy that is going to serve milly doesnt buy in pellet feed, they mix their own
and their coats is so shiny and they look so healthy, not that milly is not healthy!
thanks langdon

[wytsend]

The advantage with bought in feed - compound - is that is fully balanced with minerals added.

You need to establish in any case whether your area lacks certain minerals.  Here in Devon, copper is our problem.  So get over this , I feed only cattle pellets or calf coarse mix.  Goats require almost an identical amount of copper as cattle - they do not suffer from copper poisoning fed in this manner as they can get rid of surplus.  Most goat feeds contain sheep minerals with the obvious lack of copper.

I have tried the route of mixing my own and even with 40 + goats, it still works out considerably cheaper to buy dairy cake at £6 for 25kg.

[katie]

I had an routine inspection by Trading standards/animal health and was told I would need to register to mix my own feed for goats. As it is, I had to register as a person who uses bought in feed (can't remember the official terminology). Keep your head down!

[langdon]

dairy cake?
sorry new to goat keeping
langdon

[ballingall]

Dairy cake= a ready made mix.

I was discussing this with my sister a few months ago, and our goats are fed so much better now than they were 30 years ago. We use ready made sheep/goat mixes (plus we do use a cattle mix occasionally for copper and we use cattle dairy nuts) whereas 30 years ago, you couldn't buy those types of mixes. You could only get a few straights, and pony nuts. We used to feed pony nuts, wheat, oats, chaff, beetpulp- and we couldn't get soya then to add protein either. As Jane says, its the minerals that are hard to get right if you mix your own. Its also difficult to mix food for just 2 goats- you might have to buy a ton of barley, a ton of maize, a ton of linseed flake, a ton of soya- thats 4 tons of feed that you have to keep somewhere just so you can mix it up!


What I might be tempted to do in your position- is ask the people who have the stud male, if you could buy from them. Or offer to put in money to help buy the straight foods for them, and then in return get bags of feeding for your two.

Beth

[Anke]

I found that when the goat kids were fed sheep creep pellets they started to have very soft droppings - I think it was too rich for them. Equally the GG's start to go soft when given Alfa A, but the BT is fine with quite big amounts of it...

So if you have a feed that they like and that agrees with them - stick with it! Mine get Allan & Page goat mix, plus I supplement with sugarbeet shreds, carrots and any veg that is handy, also sprinkle on seaweed plus some garlic powder (when not milked). PLus hay and now also some haylage...

Storage and rats become much more of a problem if you start mixing your own!