What to feed my goats

[Kaitie09]

I have 3 does. 2 are 1yr old Boer/Nubians and the other is a 5yr old pygmy. Their run is in the woods and they have eaten all of the brush in their area. They do have loose minerals at all times, but what should we really be feeding them and how much? The pygmy is fat, but looses it when the weather gets warmer. Also, there is a farm not a mile up the road that is selling a first cutting of orchard grass/mixed grass hay, is that good for them? Right now are really only being fed a large coffee can(the big folgers plastic ones) of grain between the three of them a day. We are really trying stop feeding them grain all together to cut back on costs since they are only pets.

Edit: just looked at the can, it is 33.9 oz which equals out to 2 lbs. Is that still too much for three goats?

 

[20kidsonhill]

If you are not breeding them, and they are on proper condition, good forage, or 2nd cutting grass mix hay, is really all they need. The mineals are great for them and ofcourse fresh water.

If you see one starting to loose weight and you know you have been providing forage and hay would do a fecal test and check for worm loads.

Since the Nubian/boer crosses are just a year old, they are still growing and the grain wont make them fat, but at this point probably a waste of you money, unless you are still trying to put weight on them or just don't mind buying the grain.

A large coffee can is 4 lbs of grain. That is a quit a bit for a non-lactating doe. You might want to cut that in half for a while.

1st cutting hay is normally steamier and not as nutritional as 2nd cutting hay. You could get by with it if you also had some forage, but with no forage I would recommend better quality 2nd cutting hay, or a combination of both.