# what kind of hay would you feed your goats if you could chose?



## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I need to buy hay - new to our place, no fields for haying, .... The good news is that hay is available to buy here.

What kind of hay do you think is best for goats? What would you buy or grow if you could get whatever you wanted?

Any advice/guidance would be very much appreciated. 

thanks
Cathy

edited to add: we have 2 bred does, 1-6yr grade saanen & 1-2yr grade toggenberg/saanen mix.


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## DQ (Aug 4, 2006)

alfalfa hands down. its a perfect food for goats.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I would choose alfalfa and Brome hay. Certain times of the year I feed both. Usually brome supplemented with alfalfa for growing, milking or bred stock. Alfalfa is of course a great feed, brome is by far my favorite grass hay.


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## fcnubian (Sep 7, 2006)

I feed grass. They do well on it but I wish I could get some alfalfa to mix in with it. 
I'd say go with alfalfa.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

Definitely alfalfa if you can get it. I'm assuming that you plan to milk your goats? They'll need the calcium in the alfalfa to replace what their bodies put out in milk. And they need to start getting it before they kid, to build up a supply to draw on afterwards. Otherwise you could end up losing them to hypercalcemia.

Kathleen


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## Bona Fide (Oct 30, 2007)

I have a mix hay - it's what we personally choose to plant and cut. Most of it's mixed, but our hay is for cows/goats and horses. 
This year wasn't the best year for hay b/c a few of our fields needed work pretty badly - they hadn't been cut in a few years but we like Korean, Kobe, Timothy, Orchard Grass, Clover and Alfalfa mixed.
Bermuda is okay - but it takes over and I prefer to leave it be. Our mixture works well for all of ours when we can get the fields finished, it's what all 1200 acres will be.  (Some day LOL).


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

I feed alfalfa hay to my dairy goats. It's the best kind to feed to pregnant and lactating does. They need the protein to prevent hypocalcemia and produce milk.


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## jordan (Nov 29, 2006)

I'm feeding about 90% pure alfalfa because thats whats in my field. I figure in a couple more years the grass and weeds will start filling in a bit so it will actually be a more ideal mix! They do seem to get a little chunkier on the pure alfalfa though. 
Lois


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## Trey (Oct 30, 2007)

I used to get a brome/alfalfa mix that I loved. Now I hay out fields that is brome/clover, and I like that also, I have meat goats though. With yours being dairy, I would go with the alfalfa.


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

we planted one hay field to red clover/orchard grass. Since then, the red clover has died out and the hairy vetch is creeping in. Nice hay for the goats. Alfalfa is not grown around here.


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## AnnaS (Nov 29, 2003)

I've also had good luck with a good quality alfalfa/perennial weed mix. Maybe 85-90% alfalfa and a sprinkling of broadleaf and grass. 

I would rather have young cut, green, high protein grass hay than half-seeded or rained-on alfalfa. I bought a couple of bales of rained on alfalfa this year and it tested out like straw. It sure *looked* nice though. 

Right now, I have two kinds of hay-a Prime graded alfalfa and a CRP weed hay with high palatability and 5% protein- and the remmnants of grass/prairie pasture. They will spend about 20 minutes going back and forth between the hays and spend the rest of the day out in the pasture.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

If I had the best hay, I'd still feed alfalfa pellets. I will probably never go back to hay. No waste, I can absolutely control how much they're eating, consistent quality and I know beforehand what the protein percentage is. Between that and good browse, my girls are in the best shape I've ever seen them. When I was showing this summer, I couldn't believe the difference in their overall condition compared to goats eating hay.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I've got two kinds of hay being offered right now

1) orchard grass w/ 10% alfalfa, 2nd cutting
2) marsh grass w/ 10% clover, 1st cutting but not too stemmy

still trying to find more alfalfa percentages. Any opinions about which of the two above do you think is better?


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