I thought I would use this existing post for my question. I ran out of really high quality rich alfalfa grass mix last week. My guys are around 2 years and 8 months old. Right now I am feeding a fairly poor quality alfalfa grass mix that we wintered them on last year and had lots of waste. You could see improvement in everything (coat, weight, etc.) when I got them on some really grassy alfalfa early in the spring. I then moved up to the super high quality stuff. I am going today to pick up this years cutting of the really grassy alfalfa mix. Last year it was mostly grass and weeds with just a sprinkle of alfalfa leaves every other flake, so this year there is likely even less alfalfa. I am only grabbing enough for a couple weeks. So....
My question(s):
At their age, and with the growing season over or almost over, is it safe to just switch to straight grass? It has been freezing temperatures at night since August and the pasture has been brown and dormant since June/July. I ran out of dry COB a couple weeks ago and didn't get more since it is so close to the end of growing season and all that. They still get sunflower seeds.
Should I get a ton of the rich stuff or a ton of the really grassy alfalfa and feed it until I run out around the start of winter (I have 3 goats in the 180-200+ range). I guess I mean winter months, since winter will be here any time now, next week or not until December, you just never know.
The primary purpose of the question, I guess, is related to cost.
The guy my hay comes from puts up excellent hay. Every bale looks like he hand selected and tied what went in it. It is very green and rich and heavenly.
Every year, I pay high dollar for his stuff. Year one was $210 for a ton of the rich alfalfa/grass mix. I then got some stuff somewhere else for less money ($165)and delivered, and it was still very good quality.
Late summer of the second year I got the same stuff delivered but it was put up brown and the bales were falling apart while we unloaded (yes we, these guys were mad because it had to go in an open front barn instead of just off the side of the trailer). It did fine in large quantities over the winter but they definitely needed the better stuff come spring. It was $135 a ton.
This year gets us back to the start of my post. The spring stuff was $160 a ton and by time I got to the high quality stuff he wanted $6 a bale so I took 30 for $180.
I have been looking forward to the days of $50/ton grass hay for adult wethers. This year was an excellent year and those low prices aren't happening. My guy decided to go $200 on everything this year. SO when I was paying high prices for alfalfa and the grass was going for $120 a ton, I thought $360 a year to feed 3 goat would be awesome when they switched to grass. Now I am looking at $600. He said his 2nd cut will go higher.
Is the idea of feeding hay that is "too" good applied to grass or just to alfalfa? Am I better off with lower quality (not poor or bad or moldy) when it comes to straight grass, or is it better to start selling off my possessions to afford the $200 per ton heavenly super green stuff?
I imagine it would be possible to get it cored and tested and all of that, since his stuff is fairly consistent, but at this point, I really just want to make a decision on shopping around for cheaper without sacrificing proper care. I mean, if I can cut cost in half it is worth it, but if it is a difference of twenty bucks or something, I prefer to base it on whats best, not cost. The main concern is a hay broker will tell me how great the hay he has is, and then bring me falling apart brown bales of junk, so I don't know what I am getting until it is here. If I like, I get more, if not, I keep searching.
This is long, I hope folks read through.
Thanks,
Gregg
