We just bought 20 acreas of alfalfa in Southern Wisconsin. I am wanting to know if it is good for grazing goats on or will it cause bloating?

-- Neva Nelson (neva@cheerful.com), November 12, 2001

Answers

Do an on-line search for clover disease before you feed too much alfalfa.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 12, 2001.

You shouldn't let any farm animal graze fresh alfalfa right out of the field, bloat and colic can happen quickly.

Always feed alfalfa as a well cured, properly cut, dried and baled hay, and then still be careful. Ruminants do better on a mixed legume and grass hay or pasture, not a straight legume, too gassy, just like too many beans in a human diet.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), November 12, 2001.

There are places that feed fresh alfalfa as green chop on a regular basis. They have a feeder that is pulled behind the tractor and somehow the machinery cuts the alfalfa and lods it right into the feeder, which is then left in the goat yard. This is at a dairy, Harvey Considine wrote the article about it. We also have alfalfa in our pasture, and are hoping to plant more, the goats don't care for the clover much. I would say that you should be very careful when starting them on it. Give them a bunch of grass hay, and then when they have filled up on that, give them a little fresh alfalfa. Increase VERY slowly very day, cut back if you see any signs of bloating. What some people do is to feed the goats hay in the morning, and after they have cleaned up the hay they get let out onto the pasture, so they don't gorge on it. This would be after you have introduced it very slowly.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 12, 2001.

from what I've heard it's best to get a good quantity of dry matter (see:Hay) into them before turnin' them out on ANY lush pasture... helps to cut down on the incidence of bloat ...least that's what I've heard.... just a thought ... :) Lesa a.k.a. porch

-- Lesa Kosteck (porchswinger2000@yahoo.com), January 06, 2002.