What type of grain do you feed your cows,goats and sheep ? My animals all get salt blocks ,& hay, cows and goats heifer grain and corn , sheep get corn , they also all get day old produce and bakery items daily .The pigs also get bakery and produce along with hog feed because they were not growing fast enough .Does anyone feed beet pulp ? What works best for you ? Whats the best grain to beef up the pigs ?

-- Patty (fodfarms@slic.com), November 05, 2000

Answers

Pigs get hog feed, plus gluten if I have anything to mix with, because they don't like gluten. Jersey calf gets gluten because she loves it. Goats get a special feed mixed by our mill; 18% protein horse feed, actually. Horse and mules get gluten or chicken scratch. Poultry gets scratch. Everybody gets "leftovers" in season. Cow, horse, mules, and goats get river cane after frost, because it stays green all year.

-- Teresa in TN (otgonz@bellsouth.net), November 06, 2000.

Goats get selenium/mineral salt(loose), cobalt salt block,16% protein goat dairy pellets, apples, squash, alder and willow trees. The hay is grass and clover, alfalfa for the winter and early production before the pasture is up and growing. The ducks get scratch and oyster shell, and whatever greens they forage.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 06, 2000.

The goats are all on a custom mix, really a lamb feed that has been tweaked. Though we grow out all our stock on it, 17%, we have recently added an all grain (oats, corn, barley, alfalfa pellet) mix to it to cut the protein down to 14% for our pregnant and milking stock. We are pleased with this new trend in thinking that to much protein is to much on grown animals. We spend the bucks on hay for our goats, and you really can't stress hay enough on your goats. Also Purinas Loose 12 12 mineral mix for cattle free choice. Though most folks don't have their stock a long time, most folks are in and out of the goat industry in less than 5 years, you really ought not to feed your stock whole corn, my nearly 11 year old doe has very good grinding molars still, which she wouldn't have, had she had to grind down whole corn for that many years! During winter the heavy bred and newly milking does get free choice Diamond V Yeast and baking soda. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 07, 2000.

Vicki, I really agree with you, especially on the " too much protein" part, grown animals need minimal protein, usually 12% to 14%. The high protein feeds are for young, rapidly growing animals only, it is very hard on the kidneys to metabolise all that protein. As you said, the most important part of any total ration, is good quality hay, especially so in producing animals, quality hay, feed free chioce if nesessary, almost eliminates the need for concentrates ( grains of all kinds) in the diet. If in doubt, have your hay tested, the extension agent can have it done for 8 dollars or so, you would be amazed at the difference in good quality hay cut at the right time, and ordinary looking hay, which can be about void of any food value at all, other than fiber. We put up our own hay now, it was getting too hard to find hay worth buying around here, I've slashed our grain bill drastically since then. Traditionally, hogs are fattened on corn, takes lots of it, but it works. Figure around 1% to 2% of their body weight per day, translates to quite a bit in a hog. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 07, 2000.

I don't have much as far as stock goes, but I can comment on feeding beet pulp! I fed pelleted beet pulp to my horses a couple years back when hay was in short supply. I used beet pulp to replace 1/2 their hay and they did just fine, even the mares that were bred & nursing foals. You MUST soak the beet pulp pellets for feeding to horses, because they expand greatly once they get wet and you don't want that happening inside. My feed guy said he fed it to lambs w/o soaking first & never had a problem so maybe other stoc does not have the same trouble. Beet pulp is fairly low in protien and most vitamins/minerals. It does have calcium in decent amounts tho. I found it most useful for supplimenting an older horse who had trouble eating hay due to worn out teeth, much more affordable than feeding "senior" type feeds.

-- elle (hotging@aol.com), November 07, 2000.

To add to my previous: hay here is terrible, probably not much better than sawdust in feed value, so I give small amounts of the high-protein feed, plus the best mineral mix I can find. Everyone gets as much hay as they want, but I really have to supplement everyone. You should see most of the cattle in this area! Poor skinny things are expected to breed, grow babies and nurse them on only poor-quality hay. I wonder how many actually breed back each year.

-- Teresa in TN (otgonz@bellsouth.net), November 07, 2000.

Teresa, where in TN are you? We have lots of friends in the Smokey Mountain area, outside of Knoxville, they all have good quality hay coming out of their ears, was an exceptional year for hay there, they said, some got three cuttings, or more. Perhaps you should look/purchase hay farther to the east, I've been known to drive 140 miles to get a truck and trailer load of hay, if I couldn't find any good hay locally. Hay is your most important item in your feed program, and in the long run, good hay will save you money. Maybe a friend can share expenses if you split a load of hay, there is lots of good hay out there this year. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 07, 2000.

Annie: I live about 90 minutes NE of Knoxville. It has been a good hay year, but I guess I'm still from Indiana, where people make good hay instead of lots of hay. I know there are farmers here who do work hard to make the best hay they can, and next year I'm going to find some of them. I have a neighbor who moved here from western KY, and she keeps looking for good hay, too.

-- Teresa in TN (otgonz@bellsouth.net), November 08, 2000.

WE feed horses pellets. They digest about20% more than whole grains The hay seems to be much better quality when purchased from a farmer with horses. Horse people seem to be very particular about their hay.

-- jay vance (jay.l.vance@worldnet.att.net), November 09, 2000.

Our dry does and young goats get 1 pound 16% commercial goat feed per day.Milking and/or nursing does get 1 pound for each 3 pounds of milk. That usually means 4-5 pounds of feed for the mature milkers.Bucks get 1/2 pound per day.All goats have all the grass and grass hay they care to eat.I would feed alfalfa if it were available here at a reasonable price.It's 10.00 a bale.Thats out! Chickens get scratch,oyster shell,laying mash and bugs. Geese get scratch,oyster shell and grass. Dog get dog food. Cat gets cat food. All animals get left over garden vegetables.The cat passes on these. The dog ocassionally eats a radish or collard.(Maremma---thinks she's a goat) We have animals slightly on the heavy side but absolutely no sickness or vet bills.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), November 11, 2000.