goats

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by thDishRanAwaywiththespoon

I love free range! My ducks had a ball1 How do you keep the fox at bay?

I eat meat but I could not eat Pablo=(

Multiple large guard dogs.

For the most part they don't really do anything. Just drool a lot. But on the other hand they poop everywhere.

I think that the secret is dog poop.

Any predator who sees a four pound pile of canine poop, knows it was a big canine that left it. When they see piles less than ten feet apart, it likely is a serious territorial marking.

Few predators wish to cross such a territorial boundary.

In the snow, I have followed some large feline tracks. This past winter we have seen a total of three sets of really large feline tracks. Coming out of the dense forest into an opening, those tracks will turn and follow the clearing edge going toward our house, but when they get to big piles of canine poop, those feline tracks turn away. They skirt around the canine territory and back into the dense forest again in another direction.

Our German shepherd recently passed away, but she mostly ran inside and under the bed when she heard noises in the dense forest.

We have a Pyrenees mix that sometimes thinks that she senses something in the forest. She tries to get herself between the herd and the suspected predator. But then she has poor eyesight, and she has thought that I was a predator at times.

I think that the real 'secret' to keeping predators at a distance is dog poop.

[thDishRanAwaywiththespoon]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Multiple large guard dogs.

For the most part they don't really do anything. Just drool a lot. But on the other hand they poop everywhere.

I think that the secret is dog poop.

Any predator who sees a four pound pile of canine poop, knows it was a big canine that left it. When they see piles less than ten feet apart, it likely is a serious territorial marking.

Few predators wish to cross such a territorial boundary.

In the snow, I have followed some large feline tracks. This past winter we have seen a total of three sets of really large feline tracks. Coming out of the dense forest into an opening, those tracks will turn and follow the clearing edge going toward our house, but when they get to big piles of canine poop, those feline tracks turn away. They skirt around the canine territory and back into the dense forest again in another direction.

Our German shepherd recently passed away, but she mostly ran inside and under the bed when she heard noises in the dense forest.

We have a Pyrenees mix that sometimes thinks that she senses something in the forest. She tries to get herself between the herd and the suspected predator. But then she has poor eyesight, and she has thought that I was a predator at times.

I think that the real 'secret' to keeping predators at a distance is dog poop.

LOL @ dog poop-it keeps two leggeds away too.

[KiddinAroundFarm]

And my final word on it will simply be that NO ONE advocated feeding goats (or horses for that matter) a diet of only hay. We simply are advocating that feeding goats a diet of grain which is high in certain things and low in others will be a major contributing factor to urinary calculi. We also said (collectively) that goats can and do thrive by eating what is natural to them, forest, grasses, and hay. NOT that we'd feed only hay. That wouldn't work, you are right, it is not nutritionally complete. However, forest, grasses, and some hay when grasses aren't available, that is nutrionally complete. Yes, minerals have to be added, we are in a deficient area, but, we recognize this, and take steps to fix it.

So, therefore, let's leave it at this, and it will educate all who read this thread:

1. If you are going to feed your goats free-range, then mostly their diet will be taken care of. This will of course be dependent on them having access to enough trees, grasses, etc. to live on. You could never feed 30 goats on 1/2 acre. You could however feed 3 on that. If your goats are free-range it will be neccesary (in Maine) to add a mineral (not a salt block) in order to cover the things we are deficient in. Unless you take steps to correct your deficiency.

2. If you are going to feed your goats a diet mostly consisting of concentrated grain products, made out of oats, molasses, etc, then yes, you will need to feed ammonium chloride to your bucks and wethers. This is because the high ratio of calcium compared to the low ratio of phosphorous doesn't allow proper diluting of stones, and will result in calculi. So, feed the medicated feed to prevent this. Make sure however that you don't feed ammonium chloride to animals that you will be drinking the milk from. There is a large withdrawal period. Again, minerals will be needed.

That being said, yes, we currently feed our goats grain until we get our fencing in place, and so they are fed ammonium chloride. Right now so are our little ones, for that matter then entire herd (We have no milkers right now, so it's safe) in order to also medicate for cocci. That's another story altogether, but another one of those things that comes from a situation where the goats aren't roaming a large amount of land.

Hopefully this clears things up, and those who don't know goats can see the two different arguements, and see why they are both correct.

[youselin fleitas]

i need help i have a week old little goat and she tends to eat sand,i need help can she eat sand

[Submariner]

At one week old her method of experiencing the world around her is via taste.

She needs to be fed milk, in a pen with straw or grass bedding. If she is going to explore and taste things she can chew on the straw.