I have been searching for a good quality, dry horse mix with protein around 14% - 16% and can not find anything close. Found one cheapy kind with 10% protein, found horse pellets and found a ton of sweet feed varieties. But...I heard from my neighbor a small place about 30 minutes from me that can do feed mixes. I'm not sure what they have to choose from but if anyone could tell me some ideas on what to ask for that would be fabulous. (ex: 20% oats, 10% beet pulp, 15% ect. ect.) If you could give me a few different mix ideas, the types of grains to ask for and the percentages I would greatly appreciate it. Right now my mom is still feeding a bit of the goat pellets she first bought, alfafla pellets and a mix of Sudan and coastal hay, but she'd like to get a good dry grain mix that would be appropreate for pregnant does, milkers ect. ect. One of the does *may* already be bred..still not sure on it, but we'd like to get a good feeding program lined out for ourselves...not only for the health of her goats, but also for myself when I buy my own dairy goats in the near future. Hope my question made sense and I appreciate any input.
Well TSC has a 10% or a 14% dry horse mix that is good Bluebonnet brand When I was able to afford everything ideally this was my mix 100lb whole race horse oats 100lb steame rolled barely 25 lb cracked corn 25 lb BOSS black oil sunflower seeds 20 lb of dry beet pulp. I then top dress with a tad of calf manna (knock off) for a higher protien when needed. I used this for nearly 8yrs with wonderful results. Due to the high cost of feeds I now have moved to just whole oats and use sunflower oil top dressed beet pulp and cracked corn
Feed prices certainly do dictate what I feed to my goats. One day I want to be able to do all organic, grow lots of my own feed and sprout as many of my grains as possible. But for now I am basing my grain feedings on barley because it is half the price of oats. I don't really like pelleted grain mixes...probably because I am so horse-oriented and see the dismal results on hooves of sweet feeds and too many supplements, etc. I like simple things and they seem to work better. Many pelleted products use floor sweepings, wood fibers, potato chips, etc. as fillers, which is why some are so cheap. I milk my goats for my own nutrition, and so try to feed as naturally as possible. I go basically by instinct, which may or may not be in tune with what my goats need, but they normally get about 1 to 2 pounds, depending on the goat, of mixed grains, mostly barely, per feeding at milking time. They also get free choice alfalfa pellets and mixed grass hay, plus their mineral and pasture. Depending on the choice, I add BOSS, corn, soy, wheat, and oats to the mixture, plus calf manna in small amounts. I understand that soy is not the greatest thing, so may not do that anymore after this bag is gone. When I get a spare minute, I sprout the grains and try to feed at three days sprouted. They LOVE those sprouts. I have not been able to do them on a daily basis, but intend to as sprouting increases the nutrition in each grain quite a bit. It is a hassel though sort of...but one day.
Depending on what is in the 10 % dry it would be easier to just feed that and add some calf manna or a knock-off brand to up the protein if you still want it higher. Ray
Thank you! I found the 10% dry mix at Tractor Supply but nothing higher than that that wasn't in pellet form or a sweet feed. I'm going to TSC online to see if I can find the feed I found at my local and see if the ingredients are listed online.....I know it was a white back with a picture of a galloping horse on it (Don't recall seeing the brand name though..) Which, just out of curiosity...why is it prefered by many to not feed sweet feeds? Just curious. Maybe I could buy the dry mix from TSC and then go to the feed place and get the BOSS and a bit of something else (not sure what?) to mix with it to up the protien without having to break the bank on feed. Just trying to get MY ducks in a row on this so by the time I am ready to purchase my own goats I'm not doing the scramble trying to find everything I need. Sudan a good hay to feed along with alfalfa pellets? Will hay, the alfalfa pellets and loose minerals be adequate diet during the times that grain feeding daily isn't nessesary? (no pregnant does or milkers ect. ect.) A customer at my mom's work said he'll trade me some irrigated Sudan hay (or give a generous discount) for goats milk when I have it so it might be a good arrangement He's well known for his hay (most of the horse folks around here buy coastal from him) and keeps it weed free and irrigated...
The TSC here carries Bluebonnet 10% All natural dry horse mix. We use it here without even adding anything really to it and the does do fine on it. We mainly use the alfalfa pellets for their protein and then they have free access to regular grass hay all they want. We don't feed sweet feed type grains mainly because it spoils fast in the texas heat and it contains molasses which they use to keep all the dust from lower quality grains together. Your paying for the weight of the molasses, which is cheap for them to add. That same 50 lbs of dry your actually getting much more grain then 50 lbs of sweet feed. Ray
Crystal, Yes the sudan hay is good. I feed sudan, coastal, blue stem and alfalfa - Not all at once and mainly my girls just get the alfalfa as a treat as they have the free choice pellets (but I have horses too so have some on hand). Shawna
Vicki and I both have used the Bluebonnet 10% from TSC and it is an excellent grain. You are going to find that the BOSS will break the bank now at nearly $20 for a 50lb bag so you may need to rethink that. Love Sudan
Thanks so much for all the help! And thanks for the explanation on the sweet feeds...didn't know why many prefered to feed something besides that. I'm going to check out the lil place that's semi local for me and see what they would charge for ustom mixing grains and if that's too pricey then I have the TSC 10% dry mix to fall back on. Thanks for taking the confusion out of all this lol
I'm north west of Abilene Texas...abilene is about 30-40 minutes away but it's the town I have to do all my shopping in as I'm out in the boonies.
Thanks! I see there are several Texas members here...but not too many that are close to me...closest ones seem to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area..and thats still a good 3-4 hours..
I do like my custom mix better than any bagged feeds I've found. I can tweak it as needed, less or more molasses, increase/decrease protein etc. Plus it's made fresh...with bagged feeds from TSC the goats would eat one bag well, next bag turn their noses up. The custom mix is a little more consistent. Most of the feed guys are really good at working out mixes with you although the one I use knows nothing about goats whatsoever. I just walked in with a recipe and he was able to get the brands I wanted and mixing it was not at all expensive.
Boy I wish barley were cheaper here. Most places do not even carry it. I like to feed it, but it costs too much. There is such a variance over the country. We have a TSC here, too, but it does not carry Bluebonnet feeds. Never have seen that. TSC feed is way to high to feed anything here. I buy something from time to time, but not much. Although I love the store and the people who work there. They also will price match on the same item. Les
I am currently trying to work up a custom blend too. I want to stay away from corn, soy, & cotton seed if at all humanly possible. Does anyone have a recipe they would share? Wanting to mix 1/2 ton at a time.
