Author Topic: Goat mix for sheep? (Read 1831 times)

dixie · « **on:** April 09, 2018, 04:03:39 pm »

Im running out of sheep mix so picked up a bag of goat mix as en emergency, ingredients are pretty much the same except the goat has 8.7mg/kg copper, I know sheep can't have too much copper but could I use this if nothing else?

Foobar · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2018, 05:21:46 pm »

The maximum inclusion for sheep is 15 mg/kg I think, so unless you have copper sensitive breeds you should be okay.
Sugar beet nuts are an excellent alternative in an emergency, and they are 7mg/kg copper.

bj_cardiff · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2018, 06:09:12 pm »

I wouldn't because of the extra copper. If the feed shop is out of Ewe nuts I feed sugar beet or sometimes and all stock mix

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2018, 07:20:34 pm »

We're now feeding grass pellets, stocked by most pet and horse places as well as agri merchants. The Dengie one is meadow grass, nothing added, non-GM, 16% protein.

Or you could mix that with the goat mix and so dilute the copper

Copper-sensitive breeds include North Ronaldsay (highly sensitive, even a little can kill a copper-naive sheep) and Texels. I've never been sure whether it's just that Texels are really good at managing on very low copper, or are actually likely to die from over-exposure. But even if it's the latter, I believe it's a cumulative effect, so they're unlikely to have their livers explode if they're fed goat mix for a few days.

dixie · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2018, 08:22:19 pm »

Thank you everyone, I've got enough sheep mix for the morning and I'm going to take the goat feed back, just means a drive to a different store in the morning, I have a bot of sugar beet left so I've soaked that to bulk out what I have left! Love this site and all the knowledge thank you.