[StaceyRosado]

I spent just over $13.00 on one 50lb bag of sweet goat feed today!!! this is rediculous!

Last time I bought feed they were out of the goat feed so I bought horse feed. The goats never skipped a beat and ate it up - no soft stools from the sudden change either.

So I saved the tag and tonight was comparing the two.

The differences are
goat feed there is 30ppm of copper
horse feed it is only 20ppm of copper
goat feed protein is 16%
horse feed is 12% protein
in the goat feed the crude fiber is 8%
horse feed crude fiber is 22%

How much of a difference is this going to make for my goats do you think?

I have not seen any weight loss in the past month nor any coat conditions becoming bad in any way (of course it is only a month but they are growing their winter coat at this time).

I asked because the horse feed is like 7 or 8 dollars! It is called Select by Southern States. My sweet goat feed that I have been feeding for the whole entire time I have raised goats is also by southern states.

I hate to change a good thing - but the price is getting rediculous and unafordable!

if I do decided to go with the horse feed next time how much BOSS do you think I need to add to bring the protein levels up?

I feed fastrack so I know that is a large factor in my goats over all health

 

[enjoytheride]

I don't have enough experience with mix feeds to know- my horses for the last 20 years and my goats after the first bag, have only had hay and whole oats and alfalfa pellets and an in-the-feed mineral mix.
That's because I am leary of feed where I don't clearly know what is in it.

I figure I buy the best hay I can find and that should have pretty much what they needed in it.
With the horses, the have at times worked fairly hard - doing 20 plus mile rides climbing 2000 feet in the ride- I have always been able to keep them up to weight and healthy.

Whether this is good for the goats-????

Hay is the pricey item as I buy the best I can get here (not always godd as I would like,) and since I feel a minimal amount of grain, that is usually not a problem.

 

[prairiewolf]

I have always wondered why goat grain is so much more expensive than all-stock or horse grain. The mix might be slightly different but the ingrediants are basically the same...is it just because it says "goat" on the bag? Sometimes I wonder! :roll: I guess the main thing to look at is the ca/phos ratio for bucks & wethers. If that isn't real far off I would say it isn't going to hurt them a bit. We have fed horse grain to our does for years, of course we don't feed a lot of grain, I would be more leary of it if we fed larger amounts of grain. We still buy goat grain for the bucks. Even the horse grain is going up though, it has went from $5 a bag to $7 a bag. I am going to check into having a feed mill mix it for us. That is still cheaper and I can get a grain formulated for goats that way, the only problem is having to buy 1/2 ton at a time. I worry about it going bad before we can use it all or something.

 

[goathappy]

12% protien isn't that bad, I'd say topdress the feed with BOSS and you should be ok.

 

[StaceyRosado]

calcium to phosphorous

goat feed
calcium 1.25%
phosphorus .40%

horse feed
calcium 1.40%
phosphorus 0.45%


so I think it is comporable.

 

[StaceyRosado]

12% protien isn't that bad, I'd say topdress the feed with BOSS and you should be ok.

yah I was thinking that too.

I really like to have a 16% but now that I add BOSS I thought I could easily bring up the procentage.

And really my minis don't need that much grain. If I still had milking does I would be more concerned with a lot of this.

I just wanted to make sure before I rashly changed feeds - I don't do change well either.

 

[enjoytheride]

This is just a vague memory of some other discussion but I wonder if Urea is also a concern?

 

[StaceyRosado]

I did think of that. I didn't see anything on the lable that said urea on it.

if someone knows if it goes by a different name that I can look for that would also be good

 

[alyssa_romine]

I feed a 12% horse grain too and BOSS added to it and mine are doing great on it.

 

[goathappy]

I thought urea was a no-no for horses too, but I"m not sure :?

 

[StaceyRosado]

I have been extremely happy with the quality of feed from southern states so I think next time I will go with the horse feed - thanks guys for your oppions it really helped.

 

[jBlaze]

I would like to add about hte 12% vs 16% protien.

12% would be fine as a maintenece feed, but I feel that it is too low to support growth or lactation. I feed the kids and milkers a high protien. Unless you were to get one of those tubs of protien supplement? I have never used one of those so I don't know. And there are probably other protien supplements. But just my understanding of protien, you need more for growth and milk.

 

[goathappy]

Not true. All of our milkers, bucks, dries and kids are fed a 13% protien year round, and our does milk very well all year round, and everybody is in great shape. Our boer wethers were 50-70 lbs at 3 months of age, and all the doelings, dairy and meat, weren't far behind. None of the goats are fat either.

Ideally, with food, it should be either high protien low energy, or low protien high energy(like barley, oats, and wheat)

If you are worried about the protien, supplement with a good hay.

 

[StaceyRosado]

thankfully this year I have a good hay so as long as I can keep that up I will be good.

I always have the option of mixing the two kinds and that crossed my mind or going back to the goat feed if their condition goes down hill.

It is worth the experiment to see how they do.

I would never jepardize their health though so do know I will be monitering their condition closely just as I have this past month.