Mini-M Ranch
Overrun with beasties
We have four does and a buck (mini-nubians) on our farm. Currently, they are receiving free choice alfalfa hay and about 2/3 C or so of sweet feed textured for grain. One of our does just kidded beautiful triplets on Saturday and, well, as you can imagine, one does get hungry when making milk for triplets. I do give them peeled and diced apples on occasion and they each get a sprinkle of BOSS on their grain (except the buck, who doesn't get grain, but does sometimes get BOSS).
Anyway, the triplets are healthy and big and strong, and so is momma doe, so it isn't that I have found a "problem" per se with the textured grain, I am just interested in feeding a more holistic diet.
The humans in our family eat mostly fresh foods, mostly organic (when i can find it - this area sadly, isn't a hot bed of organic farming, money is tight and sometimes the organic tomatoes are just out of our price range for the week). Our chickens are fed food scraps, mostly veggie scraps, and sometimes table scraps (depending what we have had for dinner), they free range in the summer, but not during winter because the wildlife gets a little hairy around here sometimes in the cold months.
Anyway, long story short, dear husband and I are looking for a more "natural" (for lack of a better word) way to feed our goats. We have one lactating, two pregnant, and one unbred and dry doe. We have the one buck, and now we have 2 2 day old doelings and a buckling.
Where would be a good place to start with switching their feeding? It is the lactating doe I am most concerned about right now. I want to make sure she is getting plenty of vitamins, minerals, etc., for her triplets and herself. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Anyway, the triplets are healthy and big and strong, and so is momma doe, so it isn't that I have found a "problem" per se with the textured grain, I am just interested in feeding a more holistic diet.
The humans in our family eat mostly fresh foods, mostly organic (when i can find it - this area sadly, isn't a hot bed of organic farming, money is tight and sometimes the organic tomatoes are just out of our price range for the week). Our chickens are fed food scraps, mostly veggie scraps, and sometimes table scraps (depending what we have had for dinner), they free range in the summer, but not during winter because the wildlife gets a little hairy around here sometimes in the cold months.
Anyway, long story short, dear husband and I are looking for a more "natural" (for lack of a better word) way to feed our goats. We have one lactating, two pregnant, and one unbred and dry doe. We have the one buck, and now we have 2 2 day old doelings and a buckling.
Where would be a good place to start with switching their feeding? It is the lactating doe I am most concerned about right now. I want to make sure she is getting plenty of vitamins, minerals, etc., for her triplets and herself. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
