Hello All, I normally feed both of our two nubian dairy goats one 2lb coffee can of sweet feed for each milking. I milk twice a day. This is in addition to all the hay they want to eat and any browseing they want to do outside. Sometimes like tonight, before I'm done milking one of them, she'll have eaten most of the feed that I put into the feed bin, so then I get another 2lb can for the other doe. Is this too much or not enough? Thanks for any help/suggestions Tony

-- Anthony Bailey (abailey@clas.net), October 12, 2001

Answers

Anthony, I adjust the amount of feed according to how my does are milking and their condition. My heavy milkers I feed all that they will clean up while I am milking them and if they are still really eagerly eating I let them continue until they are done. (except for one really fat, greedy goat that I kick off as soon as I am done milking her)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 12, 2001.

I feed mine 2 large bean cans. Comes to about 2 quarts. If they want more, I give them more. One milker is small and thin, eats like a horse and the other heavy and eats like a bird. Go figure. I am no expert on feed, and am sure someone knows a lot more than me, and as a matter of fact, I have asked many experts on the right thing to feed milk goats. I tried almost all the suggestions, and the goats didn't care to much for the mix, although I gave it a week or so. (However long it was to use up what I had bought) I read in a goat book, that Dairy feed for cows was highly recommended. I tried it and they loved it. I now mix 2 parts dairy pellets, 1 part alfalfa pellets, and 1 part crused corn. They eat it, and my milk production has almost doubled.

-- Bear (Barelyknow@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

My Alpine goats receive 1 lb. of dairy grain (16%) for every 2 lbs. of milk they produce. If they finish this before I'm done with milking, I have fresh hay in a rack right in front of the milk stand that they can nibble on...sometimes I'm really slow!! When they're not in production, they get around 1 or 2 lbs. of grain per day...depending on their body condition.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), October 13, 2001.

I've had heavy milkers that would finish their grain then start to fidget or kick on the stand. I solved the problem by putting 1-2 rounded river rocks slightly smaller than my fist in the feed pan to slow them down. They had to push the rocks around to get every morsel. Just be sure they are very round and not flattish. Some of my more cunning girls figured out that they could get their noses under the stones and flip them out of the pan.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 13, 2001.

I use a little quart saucepan for a scoop, and mine gets a pan and 1/2 so I guess about 3 qts at each milking. She gets Alfalfa hay in the morning and forage or oat hay in evening

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

I used to feed a lot more grain than I do now, based on the 1 lb grain per 2 lbs milk produced. I ran into a lot of problems- the goats were always going off their feed and feeling crummy, and the feed bill was very high. I now feed about 2- 3 lbs a day for the better milkers and less for the ones that milk less. My best milker gives 12+ lbs at her peak and she has done just fine on this amount. A good gauge is to feel the bones along the spine, both the ones that make up the spine and those that go out at right angles from it. If there is nothing but bones sticking out all over, no fat, and very little meat, the goat is emaciated and should be wormed and fed more (gradually). If the bones are visible but there is some meat covering them, maybe she is a heavy milker that just kidded, otherwise the doe should be getting much more to eat (and might need to be wormed. If the bones can be felt but there is some flesh over them and she is milking well, she's probably just about right. If moderate pressure is needed to feel the bones, she is getting a little on the heavy side, this is OK if she's pregnant and not being overfed, otherwise, chances are she's too fat. If you can hardly feel the bones at all she is just plain fat!!

I breed Alpines, which have less tendency to go to fat, I have to pay attention that they don't get too thin. I'm not sure if it's because they milk well or if it's just a breed tendency. Most Swiss breeds seem to be like that. The Nubians and la Manchas tend to get fat more easily and should be watched for that.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), October 13, 2001.

I tried using the 1 lb. grain for 2 lbs. milk formula, but found that the amount of grain varies according to the hay I'm feeding. A good quality second cut hay results in my girls needing less grain. I judge their need like Rebekah does, via their conditions. I think it's good to use the formula as a starting point, but you need to fine tune according to other feed available. Oh, I also supplement a fair amount with whatever is available at the time, so they have a very varied diet. I have to stress that the other things are simply supplements, but if they weren't getting them, they may require a bit more grain.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), October 14, 2001.

Hello all, and thanks for your suggestions and info. Its greatly appreciated. Tony

-- Anthony Bailey (abailey@clas.net), October 14, 2001.