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Since goats will not eat straw because they prefer hay, you can keep bedding intact. There are three different types of hay, Grass, Legume and Cereal Grain. Grass Hay can be timothy, orchard grass or other types of grass or broom grass. Legume includes alfalfa, clover, or soy.
What kind of hay do you feed goats?
Alfalfa hay is also popular for feeding goats and has more protein, vitamins, and minerals than grass hays, typically. It can be a good choice for feeding milking goats as it has more protein, energy and calcium.
What cut of hay is best for goats?
Second cutting is generally the preferred hay for goats. It has less weeds, is finer-stemmed, fertilized, and grown during the optimal growing season. In areas with longer growing seasons, a third cutting or even higher may be available. Late season cuttings have the highest leaf to stem ratio.4 days ago.
Can goats have timothy hay?
Timothy hay is also an option for both wethers and does. In winter months, goats should always have hay available to them in their shelter. Even if there is lots of browse left in their pasture, winter browse does not contain enough nutrients to sustain goats for the long winter months.
What hay can goats not have?
Hay for Goats Mature goats do very well on a grass-legume mix and some grass hays, but generally do not eat coarse grass hay; having small mouths, goats do not like it.
What hay gives goats?
When keeping domestic goats, hay is essential for two reasons: It provides both nutrition and dry roughage to balance the moisture and fiber content in the rumen. I often hear the terms “hay” and “straw” used interchangeably, and I cringe.
What grain is best for goats?
One cup of grain is sufficient for adult goats, while ½ cup of grain is ideal for kids (baby goats). However, pregnant goats and those kept for milking can eat up to 2 cups a day, as they need the extra protein and fat. The best type of grain to feed goats is wheat, barley, and oats.
Can goats eat alfalfa and timothy hay?
This can be fed free-choice or twice a day. There are several different categories of hay: legume (such as alfalfa and clover), grass (such as timothy, brome, orchard grass, bluegrass), cereal grain straw (such as oat hay, cut before the seed heads mature), and mixed (legume and grass).
Is orchard grass hay good for goats?
Orchardgrass is well adapted to inter-seeding with legumes such as alfalfa, clovers and lespedeza. Another advantage of orchardgrass is its potential for high yields when well fertilized. The palatability of orchardgrass is good and goats readily consume it.
Are goats picky about hay?
Their diet consists mainly of timothy grass hay with a bit of alfalfa. “They are super picky about eating any grass that falls on the ground,” Snowbird said. Instead of timothy, they typically feast on a blend of orchard hay with a little alfalfa. “My goats would rather starve,” she said, “than eat timothy hay.”Apr 14, 2015.
Do goats eat hay or straw?
Since goats will not eat straw because they prefer hay, you can keep bedding intact. There are three different types of hay, Grass, Legume and Cereal Grain. Grass Hay can be timothy, orchard grass or other types of grass or broom grass. Legume includes alfalfa, clover, or soy.
Do goats need hay in summer?
Goats need the extra nutrition that comes from feeding hay. They get a good deal of protein and energy from hay, especially in the winter months. You will use less hay in the summer than you do in the winter months if your goats have access to pasture and a lot of forage.
Can goats live on hay alone?
Grain – (0-10% of their diet) – Goats don’t need grain to survive, in fact, they can live happily on pasture or hay, or a combination of both.
How many goats can you have per acre?
How Many Goats Per Acre? Goats are similar to sheep in that you can support about six to eight goats on an acre of land. Because goats are browsers, not grazers, it will be important that the land you have will supply them with the sort of forage they like to eat—see below.
Can goats eat hay cubes?
Cubes are made for horses and cattle, and because the hay has not been completely pulverized, it does require more chewing than pellets do. However, the cubes are too big and hard for goats and sheep to eat.
Is Coastal hay good for goats?
Coastal is a good, maintenance grass hay that gives all of the additional nutrients horses need. Sheep and goats can eat every type of hay. Coastal or hay-grazer will be the most sufficient types of hay as a maintenance. Alfalfa is a good forage if they need additional protein added to their diet.
Can goats eat Tifton hay?
As another result of Tifton 85’s higher digestibility, the goats ate more Tifton 85 hay than Coastal hay in both the digestibility and the intake trials. The animals receiving Tifton 85 hay ate on average 1.25 pounds of hay DM, while the animals receiving Coastal hay only ate 1.0 pounds of dry matter.
