# all stock feed pros/con



## pygmybabies (Apr 24, 2010)

At tractor supply the other day and noticed they had a feed for all animals cattle pigs goats chickens etc. Anyone use this the tractor brand didn't say for chickens. And it was quite a bit cheaper. Than the other brand this would be so much easier to feed as the chickens and baby. Calf's want the goat feed and the goats want pig and chicken food. The tsc brand is a sweet feed all stock ..,


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## TroutRiver (Nov 26, 2010)

I like to buy feed based on ingredients and nutritional analysis rather than what the label says. Last year I fed a dairy cow pellet to my goats, because it was all organic and the nutritional analysis was perfectly acceptable for goats. Do a little research on the nutritional needs and limitations for calves and chickens. My first inclination is to say that you don't want to feed sweet feed to chickens, but I could be wrong. I tend to stay away from sweet feed because it usually contains a lot of unnecessary sugar, but I know a lot of people feed sweet feed to goats.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I use a 12% all stock not sweet feed from a little local feed store (approx $6 a bag) mixed with cracked corn (approx 9 a bag) for every animal on the property MOST of the year. In the worst of winter the chickens need more protein so they get layer pellets then. Everyone seems to grow and thrive here.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I totally understand the stress of expensive feed. That said....

Goats don't need the sweet feed at all. 

Goats don't need and do not benefit from corn in the hot weather.

Only the does in milk and growing kids need ANY feed supplementation at all. Dry does, bucks, wethers and Pygmies need hay. Giving them much feed causes problems.


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## pygmybabies (Apr 24, 2010)

so here is the another argument me and hubby are having.

If the goats have plenty of pasture 15 acres for 18 goats do they need hay also?


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## pygmybabies (Apr 24, 2010)

tsc did not have an all stock product that wasnt sweet feed but it was 12% the other brand looked perfect but was $29 a bag!!! it is cheaper to do what I am doing. And I had heard not to do the sweet feed so we never have.


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

TSC carries an all stock dry, they are the beans and tators of the feed world and are meant to be used as a supplement for quality forage. Also unless you get the sweet mix these do NOT have copper in them. 
Goat feed isnt but a couple dollars more and a great deal better if you have to have a feed, my goats personally do not do well of a good forage alone but they are either producing milk or growing babies and we are on a dry lot. 
If you need to feed on of the lower cost products go with the 12% sweet we have, its not that sweet and its at least got copper in it. I often use in the winter the All Grain and Standlee pellets mixed half and half then 20lbs per 100 on BOSS and that serves us well here. Because I store my feed outside I have to use a dry type pellet (ADM)

Ive been selling TSC feed for 3 years now as a manager for them so if you have any questions on the feed lmk. FYI, all our produces pride and dumor is made by purina


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Pasture/browse in adequate supply would reduce the need for hay. Just be sure it's forage that the actually eat. I keep a flake of hay out, too. The girls (six) only eat about 2 flakes a week, sometimes less. I think it's just something to do in the evenings. Stand around and much hay. 

If it's Pygmies, they may not need it... but again..... it's quality of forage and whether they actually eat it. Go for walks with them and watch to see what they eat. Mine have access to a hay field with forest around it. They are in the forest 95% of the time. In the field, they eat lespedeza and clover, and only an OCCASIONAL bite of grass.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Even with access to browse 24/7, I keep hay out for my herd at night in the barn. They milk better this way.


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## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

> If the goats have plenty of pasture 15 acres for 18 goats do they need hay also?


They don't need it - but in some places, as Emily mentioned, they does in milk, will do better with it - and of course, you need to supply alfalfa in some manner to does in milk


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Pygmybabies, I have, currently, 9 goats and three horses grazing/browsing on 10 acres of mixed Blacklands Prairie grasses/forbs and woods full of trash trees and saplings.

Now, as long as some of the IDIOTS and MORONS that live nearby me don't set my pasture on fire with illegal fireworks (there is a ban on them this year because of the drought and risk of wildfires), then I will not buy hay if i can possibly avoid it.

I WILL continue to drag hoses and sprinklers all over the dang place trying to keep it all alive and growing, but I won't be feeding hay.

My two minis (Miniature Nubians), during this horrendous heat, have lost production. They WERE milking 5-6# a day as FFs this spring. They are *currently* producing a solid 4# a day each in 100*+ weather, for our early summer.

They get:

Free fed alfalfa pellets (which, truthfully, they haven't been interested in too much)
2# of Dairy Lactation Pellet (forumlated for cows) each.
Top dressing of 2 ounces of Cargill's Right Now Onyx loose mineral, and whatever else I think they need. Right now, they are FAT. No, not well conditioned, FAT! Go look at their pictures on my goats and horses thread...they are the Cou Claire and Black & White Splash girls that look like basketballs on hooves. Which is why they are not getting much in the top dressing department right now.

As long as I can keep my pasture healthy and growing, I will do my best to avoid buying hay. As far as I can see, the lack of it hasn't affected production at all, and that is the big measuring stick I use for determining if my feeding practices are good. Can I keep some weight on them AND get good production out of them? I can? Then I am golden.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I have purchased all stock. It 's just easier than buying different feeds.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

CaliannG said:


> They get:
> 
> Free fed alfalfa pellets (which, truthfully, they haven't been interested in too much)
> As long as I can keep my pasture healthy and growing, I will do my best to avoid buying hay. As far as I can see, the lack of it hasn't affected production at all, and that is the big measuring stick I use for determining if my feeding practices are good. Can I keep some weight on them AND get good production out of them? I can? Then I am golden.


For their purposes, you feeding free-choice alfalfa pellets is the same as keeping hay available to them. So, in effect, you do keep hay out for them, and all the browse they can eat. So, not arguing here. Keeping hay out is the best way to keep milk production steady.


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