Chat
07-14-2014, 07:28 PM
My milking does are the only ones that get grain. Lilly and Nubbin get about 1 lb. (2 cups) of sweet feed per day. They get 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup in the evening. With this they also get a handful of sunflower seeds and about 1 cup of alfalfa pellets. Petunia gets twice as much sweet feed (2 lbs./day), the same amount of sunflower seeds, and about half as much alfalfa pellets (she doesn't care for them much and leaves them in the feeder if I give her too many). I don't feed much grain because my goats get fat (even the milkers). They have unlimited fresh browse all day with a variety of grasses, legumes, weeds, and brush to choose from. They get free choice alfalfa at night.
I let the babies eat grain with their mamas if they want it, but my kids last year weren't interested till they were several months old. Of course, their mothers didn't wean them till they were 5 months, so that probably held them off from wanting grain. Since mine are dam-raised I don't see the need to creep feed them. They have unlimited access to milk instead. Works for me. I don't see how I could keep Cuzco and Lilly from squeezing into and/or destroying any creep feeder I could build, and I'd never keep the dog out of it either.
I let the babies eat grain with their mamas if they want it, but my kids last year weren't interested till they were several months old. Of course, their mothers didn't wean them till they were 5 months, so that probably held them off from wanting grain. Since mine are dam-raised I don't see the need to creep feed them. They have unlimited access to milk instead. Works for me. I don't see how I could keep Cuzco and Lilly from squeezing into and/or destroying any creep feeder I could build, and I'd never keep the dog out of it either.