[tattycat]

Mmm. Now I feel stupid.... 

[shygirl]

Mmm. Now I feel stupid.... 

dont be daft - i still cant understand half of the sheep forum when they start to abreviate things!

grass nuts, i understand - whether for ponies, sheep, cattle are based on grass meal, with added vits etc, where as coarse mix is cereal based.

[Lesley Silvester]

Thanks again folks!! Think I'll do them 1 A&P, 1 dairy (can you get crunch?, nd some beet. Should work out better. ...

That's what mine have. I use Heygate Prestige dairy nuts. I also add Caprivite twice a day and garlic powder once a day.

[Kymw90]

From what I've gathered is goats like to be full and will happily pillage a 20kg feed bin of 5kg in one go so with advice from friends I brought the exoensive stuff and used the daily amount (1 scoop) then bulked it with regular pony mix for the bellyful factor. So if your happy to get the A&P still at the cost use that along side cheaper pony nuts/mix. Isn't hurting old skinny Hector.

[ballingall]

We work on similar lines to Kym...
 
The basic ration for all our goats is a local made sheep course mix. The milkers however get those extra treats (and the added expense) of goat mix, dairy nuts or calf mix if they prefer it. The youngstock and males just get the course sheep mix or course calf mix along with flaked barley.
 
 
So for a milker, they get 1 scoop sheep mix, 1 scoop Spillers goat mix, 1/2 scoop flaked barley and if they are milking heavy and will eat it they get a hooky bucket with a 1/2 scoop of dairy nuts and a 1/2 scoop of a goat or calf mix (depending on what their favourite food is) the hooky bucket is regarded as the treat bowl, my goats personal favorite is Dodson & Horrel sheep mix (which is £££!). To be fair we only have 2 heavy milkers that are getting that amount, everyone else is on less....
 
Then they get one of either alfafa, SB, bran mash as an extra feed seperately in the day (and sometimes not at all if they are getting out on the grass or lots of branches).
 
Beth

[manyanypets]

I saw on here that someone fed their own mix made of oats, calf mix, dairy nuts and sugar beet.  I went out and got all those but don't know how much of each makes the mix.  Does anyone know? 

[Anke]

I saw on here that someone fed their own mix made of oats, calf mix, dairy nuts and sugar beet.  I went out and got all those but don't know how much of each makes the mix.  Does anyone know? 

That's what I feed - it is basically a scoop of SB, and then half each of oats, d/nuts and baby calf mix. All of mine like oats, but not all like the d/nuts (at the moment... ), so for those it is a whole scoop calf mix, and vice versa for a couple of others...

Goats are individuals and go off parts of their food at the drop of a hat....

[manyanypets]

Thanks Anke.

is that one of those round scoops or a baked bean tin size scoop?  is it the same amount 2x daily or is that split into 2.  My goats absolutely loved it!   They are new goats to me and weren't eating the pre-made bag of coarse goat mix i'd purchased but they tucked into this no problems.  Also  do you soak the sugar beet or give it dry from the bag?  They happily ate it dry but then I noticed it said soak for horses on the bag and thought whoops should I have.  Thanks for your help and the tip on food.

[Melmarsh]

I have kept goats for 27yrs and for most of them, fed Dodson and horrell sheep nuts 18% for the milkers and lamb creep to the kids. The castrate boys that I only reared for meat had the creep but if you keep them until they are bigger you want something formulated for castrated animals because of the risk of urinary calculi. (Stones)

[jinglejoys]

Miss Mostyn Owens "reciepe for good goats

Better to persevere with the best with closer attention than spread the net too wide
Good Hay
Breakfast  Oats/Bran with  Soya Meal
Lunch Beet pulp soaked,with oats and bran
Tea Dry beet pulp,oats and low protein goat mix

Too much Protein is bad
Cattle Minerals and above all a trace of copper(does goats a world of good)

[ballingall]

Miss Owen's recipe for good goats was valid for its time... But, that recipe was from a long time ago, when a lot of food we use now actually wasn't available.
 
I had this discussion with my sister recently, as she was pointing out how much better our goats diet is now, than it was in the seventies, and that is primarily because of the availibility and quality of food (and not least the ready mixed ones) that it is possible to get now.
 
Better to persevere with the best is something that many people use- Selection, selection, selection.
 
Beth

[tattycat]

Thanks all.
The girls got a bag of calf crunch nd a bag of dairy nuts, both at 18%. Seemed to like it nd haven't gone through them like a dose of salts!!
Now to watch their condition....
Re Sb (lol), to soak or not to soak? Found a swollen mouse in the bottom of the bin when we moved nd it wasn't pretty.....

[Anke]

All I do is put the boiling kettle on to dry sugarbeet as I leave the house - it's about 150ms to the goat shed - mine love it a bit warm, esp in winter. So no real soaking, but I relax a bit more knowing it is a bit swollen up already...

[Lesley Silvester]

I use pellets so do soak them for a few hours usually unless I forget. Then it's the boiling kettle for us as well. I find five minutes is enough, then I add the rest of their food and vitamins. Well stirred, it is cool enough to eat but still warm enough for them to enjoy.

[gillsta]

I have tried various different feeds, however they will only eat the Harbro sheep crunch.  They like a bit of sugar beet in the winter as well.