What do you feed?

I don't give my bucks any grain or supplements at all. They get all the brush pasture they want, and mixed fescue/orchardgrass hay once a day. They get free choice hay when the pasture isn't full enough for them to get all they want. Sweetlix Meat Maker Goat minerals are my mineral of choice. There are better things out there than manna pro, but if your goats are showing no signs of deficiency than it's possible they wouldn't need to switch to something better.

My bucks do great without any supplementation but that may not work for yours. How's their condition? I stopped giving my boys grain because they were edging towards fat and it turns out that they can thrive without it, but that might not necessarily work for you.

I give my milking does blue seal premium dairy goat feed on the stand twice a day with alfalfa pellets, BOSS, and calf manna mixed it. Same hay regimen as the bucks.

I'm a big believer in doing what works for you. If you are happy with the way your goats look and they are healthy, there may not be any reason to change. 😉

We breed dairy goats, so our management may be different.

Bucks: 24/7 high-quality coastal round bale available. Daily they get about 2 flakes of alfalfa from a 3 string bale. (one day I'll weigh it). There are only two boys and they are in excellent condition currently. I sometimes will give a bit of grain or extra alfalfa hay during rut if I see them losing weight.

Girls: I have 5 in milk and one dry (maybe bred) and then 4 that are 6 months and under. They get about 6 flakes of alfalfa daily and 6 of the 3qt scoops of alfalfa pellets. We're going to be adding one of the coastal round bales for them as well and dropping the alfalfa pellets. On the milk stand, they get a mix of Oats and BOSS only. Here shortly, if it will ever dry so we can finish the last part, they will have access to 4 acres of heavy brush. Once they are on that we'll prob adjust the alfalfa hay down to where we can manage it without production decreasing.

It all depends on the purpose of the goats. Our goal over the years has been to raise kids for showing at the county fairs and some ABGA shows (Boer). Our does get 16% medicated pelleted goat developer from one of the feed mills about an hour away. Things were screwed up in the fall and they were getting too much feed which resulted in multiple births and some pregnancy issues, although the doe that was 'fat' had no issues and had twins! Normally our does go off of feed after they wean and don't get much if any until before we get ready to breed them. We don't have a lot of pasture or high quality hay, so the grain and loose minerals are important. We use Purina goat minerals because after 11 years of having goats that is the only one they will consistently eat. They also turn their nose up to any other kind of hay, so getting higher quality is a waste of $$, been there and done that, although they do like alfalfa hay we get from our neighbor if it's not too stemy or too many weeds.

Normally if we have a buck they get a maintenance feed and hay through the winter. Our bucks are not out on pasture as we don't have a lot of land. We stopped turning bucks out with does and opt to bring does to the buck when breeding. Especially so they don't try to go through the fence to get to our neighbors does (their goats are pets).

Since my kids have shown over the years we keep them on creep feed usually 18%, and add supplement as needed. This year with me getting a small part time job we are using a show feed and so far I think they are doing okay. We are switching from their pelleted feed to a sweet feed that they sell that was recommended along with a top dress that just adds a little more protein and fat to their diet especially since we are just weaning some kids, and some need a little more bloom to them.