So i was talking to a fellow goat herder, she is starting up a small local dairy. She has been reading this book (cant remember what is was called i will ask next time i see her) But its about ruminants over the last several years. Has a good theory on why we have been having sucha problem with ecoli over the last few years. (i also dont know how much of it is true but it makes sense to me (just needs more research) but its a good start) The man that wrte the book had some intersting points of view. Corn is a very acidic product, but also has a lot of calories, therefore farmers are using it to feed market animals to put weight on them quickly, the problem being the acid levels. the acid levels ina human stomach is/was higher thena ruminants stomach. ecoli could not survive the high levels of acid in our stomachs. but now with all the corn being fed to market grade animals the ecoli bacteria has become able to cope with it. Meaning it can now survive higher acidic levels. Therefore its now able to live in our stomachs because the acid levels in a food grade cows stomach is higher. now if this theory is anywhere near the truch i imagine its the same way in a goats stomach, i have all but cut corn out of my goats diet, i can fit one hundred and fifty lbs of grain in one barrel i have started mixing one back of corn for every two bags of oats. Have done this for about a month now, the does seem the be maintaining weight well and their coats look healthier, now i have no idea if this has ANYTHING to do with the diet change. but im finding it quite interesting. I have also read that a lot of bloat in cows is caused by acidosis, caused by too much corn in the diet. Now that being said im curious to know what all of you think of all of this? Have you heard anything similar? found your results of feeding plans contributing to the truth of these staements, ordo we think that this guy is totally off? thanks in advance beth
A friend told me about this book too- might have a point but I do think it is more complicated than that. I think over crowding in feed lots makes for disease. I just found out that the horrible feed lot on I5 down south is the finishing off lots for Harris "Grass fed" beef- yuck. Miles of cattle standing in poop covered lots. None of my horses or my goats have had any corn in years- they get whole oats and hay only and not too much oats. My trouble is keeping my goats from being tooooooo faaaaat. I think that it might be different with people in the mid west where the weather is much colder. I can remember switching from oats to more corn each fall when I lived in Michigan- they needed all the calories they could get to keep weight in the cold. Then back to no corn in the spring when the grass came in. But without that need, I've always felt that corn in large amounts is unhealthy for anything.
