Question for pygmy goat Owners

[jbrat]

I have only been feeding my pygmy's Hay. I was told if I fed my wether any grain he would develope urinary problems. Is this true? I also have a female and I would sure like to give them a little something more than just hay.

My female will eat about anything you hand her. The male Loves loves loves grain and rabbit pellets, but rarely eats anything else I may offer as a treat. When they are let loose the male goes straight for the rabbit cages to clean up any pellets, once thats gone he heads for the grain bin, which he hasn't figured out how to get into, so he'll stand on it and hollar(Baa-lease, baa-lease)

What else will be safe to feed him w/o causing urinary tract problems?

Thank you.

 

[Katiean]

If they are of good weight I would not add grain. My pygmy would eat rabbit pellets, pig feed, COB, horse feed. She was very fat. Then my neighbors fed her decon. We didn't know until she was dead.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

If they are at a good weight, I wouldn't bother with grain. I was told not to feed sweet feed to our wether, due to urinary tract problems. Anyway, ours get hay when locked up, and they "sample" the horse feed when they are loose, LOL. They also get plenty of grass when out. We usually let them out each day when we are feeding. During the winter I sometimes add grain, if they begin to lose weight. Last winter was really bad here, so I did have to supplement them.

 

[AnnaC]

Please be careful when letting goats eat food made for other animals. My two precious boys used to pick at the chicken feed if I was not careful - I was not careful enough and they both died! Vet said a slow toxic build-up over time caused by eating the chicken food which had contained ingredients not suitable for goats.

Anna

 

[shannonw]

Our goats are the same way with wanting all the other animals' feeds.

Good to know about the chicken feed though; I never knew it was that dangerous for them!

We do feed ours grain. We feed Nutrena Goat Pellets When we got the goats we did lots of research on what to feed them. For the urinary stone issues, I found that feeding alfalfa hay would cause that to happen. I read that on the internet, a vet, and another goat owner all confirmed that.

Our goats are about 40 pounds each and get about 1/2 lb twice a day. We mainly are feeding that because when we got them they would not touch the hay for some reason so we started them on the grain so it just became habit. We are slowly decreasing their amount though so hopefully we could lower their feed bill a little more.

 

[Miniv]

Wethers get crystals in their urinary tract very easily and it can kill them.

We have had two that we had to have put down over the years......

It's been recommended to make available a dish of baking soda for them. Plus, if you do give them any grain, make sure it doesn't have any copper in it. (Horse feeds usually have copper.)

 

[FoRebel]

If they are sustaining their weight and don't have kids on them, we only feed hay. If they need a little extra or have kids, we either feed them a sheep feed (since we have goats and sheep and the sheep can't have any copper) or we do straight rolled oats.

 

[Tab]

I fed mine medicated goat feed at one time. It's pelleted and prevents the buildup of clostridium (sp) in the gut.

 

[fourluckyhorseshoes]

My aunt owns Nigerian Dwarf goats and she makes sure the wethers and bucks get aluminum chloride as well as baking soda ( loose in a dish). I heard Nutrena goat feed has AC and selenium in it and possibly Purina Goat Show Chow- just check the label.