# Medicated feed, will it do harm?



## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

I dont like the idea of medicated feeds, i beleive they give people the wrong idea, however the cost of the goat feed i normally feed has went up by two dollars and the only reasonable priced feed seems to be medicated.
I looked at ADM and Noble feeds and they are priced well enough, i like that the ADM has 18% protien.
uggg, the choices we have to make sometimes really suck, if I keep them on the feed i am now, it means i have to downsize greatly.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Our feed is medicated. We go ahead & eat em anyway. But I know what you mean! For awhile I was feeding organic pellets to the chickens then prices went sky high.
The only warning it has on the label (for medicated goat feed) is do not feed to lactating cows. And that it can be fatal to horses.
We have also drank the milk when we were feeding it to our milk doe.


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## TennesseeMama23 (May 10, 2006)

I wouldn't drink milk from an animal that has been fed medicated feed, but use it for our younguns for cocci control.


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## DQ (Aug 4, 2006)

I use it for cocci control in kids only also. some feeds are medicated with decoquinate others are medicated with monensin. the monensin is toxic to horses. have you looked into just feeding whole grains and alfalfa?


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

yes i have tried it once and the alfalfa is pretty costly, 13 a bag, or 8 a bale, I cant get anything but corn and oats and was mixing that with the alfalfa but that wasnt cost effective and a huge pain in the rear.
Im thinking of doing an all stock and adding calf mana in a 3 to 1 ration along with the BOSS, however the ADM will still cost less in the long run.


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Jan 10, 2004)

We use it for the bucks and to grow out kids.


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## Middle River (Apr 11, 2007)

I just started feeding ADM - the med. 18% to my kids, and the 16% dairy to my milkers/dry does - and I LOVE it ! It's soooooo easy to feed, they love it, and the price really is pretty darn good. Talked to the rep for like 2 hrs before i ordered it - but to me, so far this is one of the best feed choices i've made yet.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

You can mix the medicated feed with cheaper grains to cut costs.
I feed 50 lbs pellets/100 lbs corn


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## JB114 (Oct 3, 2007)

We use FRM Feed here in fl and we have used goat medicated feed mixed in with a goat sweet feed and cracked corn which makes it go a long way. have'nt had any problems.


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## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

The only problem with using medicated feed in kids is that you may end up developing a coccidia population that is resistant to the coccidiastat found in the medicated feed. I personally do not feed any medicated feed to any of my animals. Before I moved to middle GA I fed the ADM Dairy Goat Power. My goats loved it and did great on it. That feed is 16% protein and is non-medicated. Now I buy a very similar feed from the Mennonites (who came up with the formula that ADM uses).


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

I too worry about resitance as the herd I bought most of my goats out of their goats seemed not as healthy as they would be a week after i brought them home and got them off the medicated feed.
As fait would have it, TSC went down on some of my key ingrediants i used to mix my own feed, where they went up on them.
I use the hay streacher, whole oats, and boss mine wont eat corn with that we get a good protien/fat source and it does well.
Thank you for taking time to reply.


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## moonspinner (Jul 2, 2002)

My experience with the medicated feed was not a good one. You need to get a good amount of it into the kids to be effective and by the time they start to really consume the grain I don't think it's long enough to stave off an overload. I actually had the most kids ever come down with cocci when I used the medicated feed. For me it wasn't the way to go and I won't be using it again.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

I am fixing to go to my fed store ..it is also a mill so I can tell them any combo I wish mixed.
I was thinking...black oil sunflower seeds 1 part
all stock sweet feed...prob 12 percent 1 part
alfalfa pellets 1 part
beat pulp 1 part
what else or what combo would be good? thanks
I have some medicated fed now..and no longer want to use it.


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

Im not a fan of the all stocks, they dont have allot in them. if you did the above combo it wouldnt provide all the nutirents and you would need a good mineral supplement.
watch out on the alfalfa products, many pellets are preserved with animal fat.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

what would others reccomend?


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## pokyone42 (Mar 1, 2006)

well, I would NOT recommend mixing alfalfa pellets with the grain... My goats HATE that! Picky witches. They like their grain... and THEN their alfalfa pellets! We mix our grain... we use 4 parts bin run oats, 2 parts Caprine Challenger, 1 part cracked corn, 1 part Black oil sunflower, 1 part medicated meat goat pellets. That seems to do our goats very well...


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

are you concerned aboutth e medicated feed and what is caprine challenger made of?


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