I need help. I have two pet goats that I don't use for milk or anything but they have become very spoiled. They will not eat anything but alfalfa hay and I made the mistake of adding a little horse pellets made with alfalfa and one of the goats just went wild over it and she will not eat her hay very well, she just wants those pellets. Until I found your question and answer board here I didn't know that goats could get stones from the food so now I have purchased the beet pulp, sunflower seeds, and regular goat chow pellets but how much of each one do I give them and where can I get Diamond V Yeast? Also for a mineral mix my southern states did not have the cattle mineral mix, they had a southern states mineral mix which is a 2-1 mix, is that ok and what is that really because the label doesn't tell me anything and how much of the minerals should I give them? I am ordering the Ammonium Chloride to add to the feed. I hate to sound so needy but I never knew that it was so many different things that they needed and that I could have such problems as stones. Thanks. Joan

-- Joan Saucier (jomisaucie@mindspring.com), July 26, 2002

Answers

Are they does or wethers? If they are not pregnant or milking they don't need grain at all. They will not even need alfalfa hay. Does hardly ever get stones, but wethers should have ammonium chloride.

About being spoiled- what would you do if you had a child who would not eat anything but candy and potato chips- treat the goat the same way. After a day or two she wil start to eat hay again. It is very bad for her to eat nothing but alfalfa pellets and she doesn't need them! She needs the long stem and fiber in regular hay- grass or grass alfalfa hay will be good enough for them, along with salt and minerals free choice. Beet pulp is OK and so are the sunflower seeds- go ahead and feed these but the goats do not realy need them if they are not milking or pregnant.

All the supplemenets and extra feeds we talk about are ways to manage goats that are nutritionally challenged due to multiple pregnancies and producing a lot of milk, sometimes while pregnant. I think you were doing fine feeding just hay; it is important not to let them get fat and they will if they get all these goodies without working. But it sounds like you love them a lot! :-)

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), July 27, 2002.