Can any one help me.what is cotton sead meal used for?I have some .Can I use this in the feed for all goats or just milkers,if so what will it do for the goats.Also oats that are criped.I would like to see my does milk increase.Thank you so much.

-- Pastor Hughes (hbchurch@brightok.net), December 13, 2001

Answers

I am no longer feeding it, but it was in my custom mix for years. Kept the moisture down from the high moisture crimped corn and molassas, acted like little sponges, so we never had mold. Lots of talk about how much the cotton feilds are sprayed and how polluted of corse cottenseed meal would be, don't know about that, my does love it and do very well on it. Anything with lots of fiber, like cottonseed meal, beet pulp, citrus pulp is going to increase butterfat and milk production. You have to look at your goats diet as a Total Mixed Ration TMR, eveything you do should be only in addition to bolster the very best hay you can find. If you have no choice but to feed grass hay with 11% protien than you will normally have to feed a higher amount of protein grain, high protein hay? then you will balance the carbohydrates and fat with your grain, and won't have to add protein. Just adding this or that without knowing what you are doing isn't going to help anything. When you are new you should model your management after someone who is making it all work, and that usually has to be someone in your area. Be very leary of folks who claim to raise their dairy goats on say :) Purina Goat Chow, because what you will find is yes they do use this but that they also top dress it with, black oil sunflower seeds, beet pulp and crimped oats or barley, so what are they really feeding? Ground cereal products, some oats, a pellet with the protein and minerals in it, (and that is running right at 10$ a bag here) and oats or barley topdressed for carbohydrates, black oil sunflower seeds for 14% protein and fat, and beet pulp for fiber, a huge difference than what they are saying. They even improve the vitamins and minerals of the Chow products with loose cattle minerals.

I feed a 14% horse grain, it is a high end product with a wonderful mineral mix in it with probiotics, yeasts and biotin. It is the only source of molassas in my grain so this puts it at only 9% molassas per ton. I mix this with a dry horse feed that is oats, corn and alfalfa pellets. I then add barley (I would use this much more heavily but it is 9.56$ per 50#!!!!, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) and alfalfa pellets. The bucks do not get the second addition of the alfalfa pellets. My grain mix is loosely based on an old mix which is one part crimped corn, one part whole oats, one part crimped barley, 1/2 part alfalfa pellets and 1/4 part BOSS. This is fed with alfalfa hay and loose cattle minerals. I do not feed soybean meal or cotton seed meal with this ration because my protein with my 17+% hay is right at 16%.

The biggest thing you will find with milkers is genetic. If you purchase hobby goats that have only been asked to milk for 3 or 4 months to raise kids, then they are pre-disposed to do this over and over, and when you are milking 2 pints morning and night when they are just 4 months fresh it gets very annoying! The problems you are having are the old addage in goats that it takes as much to feed a good milker as a poor one. At some point when you have added and used everyones tricks, and the milk production doesn't move, you just have to understand that the goats were not well bred. Breed and only use the very best bucks that you can, without someone helping you with this your does daughters could eaisly milk much worse. Thats what we do on these forums, I know Bernice agrees, we are here to give back, to keep even just a few folks from making all our hard learned mistakes. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 13, 2001.

Cotton seed has something called Gossypol. Over time it will build up in an animal and it can kill them. Cows rumenate more efficiently and are larger, so can tolerate it much easier. It is high in protein, 41%. The smaller the animal the less time it takes to build up. Depends on the amount given and the time of course that they are fed it in their ration. Soybean meal is safer. Cotton seed products collect in the liver and kidneys. They are much harder on the systems of young animals with immature rumens. It can and is fed to cattle. For some reason it is harder on bulls than on cows.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), December 14, 2001.

Hi Pastor Hughes, I think Vicki gave a very good overview of feeds and feeding. One thing that I have found that also makes a very great difference in my milk production is the amount of water they drink. As an example, my hubby moved the water trough out from under the sheltered spot I had it in. The weather was drizzly for several days and the girls didn't drink much while they were outside. Really lost milk production and I didn't know why until I pieced it all together. I live in Michigan, where it gets really cold in the winter. We cart buckets of hot water out to warm up the girls water and they love it and I notice a drop in milk production when we don't.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 14, 2001.

Hi Vicky, I was very interested in your goat chow recipe. I've been afraid to use commerically prepared feed for other animals because I've been told and have read goats have an lower tolerance to trace mineral amounts (i.e. copper) than what is commonly added to other livestock grain mixes. Is this a wives tale? I stick to a free-choice Caprine loose Mineral mix, (from Caprine Supply) and for grain, just mix my own of rolled oats, cracked corn, with and a cup of freshly ground flax seed each day. I was adding alfalfa pellets to this mix, but my finicky goat would always eat around them and they were left, so I stopped. I also feed a dairy grade of alfalfa hay. Oh, and of course, the occassional animal cookies. . . (our goats are crazy for these!) She gives just over a gallon a day on this. - Cheers, Renee M.

-- Renee Martin (icehorse@altelco.net), December 15, 2001.

I have always understood that one should avoid cottonseed oil because of pesticide residues, as cotton is not raised for consumption. I would think cottonseed meal would similarly have high amounts of evil chemicals. What say you folks who know about such things?

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), December 15, 2001.

Hi Renee, the only thing I can tell you is what works for me. I would suggest you read saanendoah.com she has excellent information. Sheep and goats have long been lumped together. Nothing could be further than the truth. Sheep have very slow metabolisims, goats very quick ones. First I do not like how caprine supply lists their amounts of minerals on their sack, and second it is an uneeded expense. Any loose cattle mineral would be better. Your goats don't eat the alfalfa pellet because they don't need the calcium with the alfalfa hay, and it actually could be dangerous for your bucks urinary health. Oats should never be more than 25% of your ration, so perhaps instead of alfalfa pellets which they don't eat, barley or more black oil sunflower seeds. Your alfalfa hay is the key to your success, you are very lucky! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.