When to stop grain

[Casdog1]

My boys are just now 2 years old. My chickens have turned my half acre into a dry lot so aside from taking my boys on walks on the neighbors' properties when the weather & my schedule permits (this time of year it's almost exclusively pine as everything else is dormant & dead & leafless), they pretty much only get what I provide them. They always have free choice grass hay. Should I be weaning them off of grain & alfalfa pellets now? They get a rotation of all stock feed, alfalfa pellets, or soaked alfalfa cubes, with BOSS every few days (especially in the fall when they're growing their winter coats), plus the occasional treat of fresh veggies or chopped fruits. They also tend to nibble at the scratch feed I throw for the chickens (mostly cracked corn with some wheat & millet) but I throw it into the leaf litter under the trees so the goats can't hoover it down very effectively. They do NOT have access to the chickens' laying feed.

By the way, I've been using the metal cage from those large 275 gallon liquid storage containers as my hay feeder. I can throw two 50lb bales into it (or more, but for only two goats I don't buy that much at a time as I don't have a lot of room for storing large quantities of hay at this time), cut the twine, & they can reach through to eat it but can't walk on it or pull a bunch out & throw it on the ground to be wasted. I have it under cover, but it has a solid metal bottom with small holes every square foot or so, too, so if water gets into it it drains out the bottom. Probably wouldn't be a good choice for goats with horns, but for disbudded goats it seems to be a good fit so far. And I'm cutting an opening in the side of the plastic container that came with it, putting shingles on the roof to keep it shady in summer, & using it for a goat shelter/dog house for the goats & the LGDs.

http://image.ec21.com/image/valleyfarmeq...nks_in.jpg