# Meat goats and corn stalks



## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

I picked up around 150 bails (900 to 950 lbs) of corn stalks for the cost of time and fuel picked up out of there field (about 5 miles up the road). It has not been rained on and I have it trapped and stacked. I sent off a few samples of it this morning to get tested. Were currently feeding out 436 meat goats and have 410 breeders. 

When I got them I was thinking I could grind a bail or two with every batch of feed to cheapen it up. Our current mix is 4 large bails of mixed pastor grasses to one bail alfalfa run thought the hay grinder and then into the mixer giving me about 18% protean. The batch I made on Saturday I ground in a bail of stalks but they are leaving a good amount of it behind in there troughs. They have free choice salt, minerals, and there still out on pasture for a few more weeks. 

Will they eat corn stocks or will it take them some time for them to get used to them?


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

Good question, I am bumping this up, that and I am amazed at all the goats you have.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

My Nigerian Dwarf goats eat corn stalks - but I don't grind them up - just throw them a few from time to time.


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## petaddict (Apr 10, 2009)

We just opened up a fence to our finished corn garden and my Nigerians go in there and munch whenever they want. They don't gorge themselves and all seems fine.


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## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

Wags and petaddict
I have feed green corn stalks a few times out of my garden by just tossing them in. These are dry; next time I go out Iâll bust a bail open and toss them some to see if they eat them. Back when we were beef cattle feed lot we fed them all the time.

Shiandpete
I have found that breeding and feeding out 410 goats is better than breeding and feeding out 150 cattle every year. I also found that with proper management and proper marketing were making m ore then when we had cattle.


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## green5acres (Aug 13, 2004)

My oats love corn stalks, just throw them in a whole. But then again they like thorny rose bushes when they can get to them.


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## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

I broke a bail open and put it out in the feed lot.

The reactions I got were&#8230;
King of the bail but it fell apart
Tug of war with the stalks but they broke to easy
A new bed to lay on but could not find a good position

I took a second bail and put it next to the fence and hand fed it. Parts of them eat some of it and part of them played with it. It looks like I&#8217;ll have a good mess to clean up tomorrow morning. 

I put one bail out for my girls and they eat part of it.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Mine ate the dried stocks last year - but did seem to prefer the less dried ones. Guess yours must have better stuff to eat so they just can't be bothered with it right now. 

Actually the biggest hit for my herd was all the 3 dozen unsold xmas trees I was given the day after xmas. They stripped those suckers bare of everything including the bark. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more of them this year.


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## DairyGoatSlave (Dec 27, 2008)

thats odd, my girls love corn stalks


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## KrisW (Sep 27, 2002)

I toss about 4 stalks a day over the fence (only 4 goats here).
Green or dry, they love them.

I might note that I make sure there are no cobs hidding in there. Don't know if they should have an entire corn cob, dried or fresh ...

Kris


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## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

When I went out to feed them this morning they had made a huge mess with the 1,800 pounds of corn stalks. I feel that they did eat more of it when it was ground and mixed into there food. I think I&#8217;ll keep mixing it into there hay till I sell it to a cattle farmer or run out.

We are set up so we can rotational graze with the feed lot in the center. They still have 3 pastures they have to clean up before they go into there sacrifice pastures till summer. They do still have some good eating out there and I guess they will become less picky as there choices go away.

KrisW
I never thought about there being corn cobs in the bails I put out for them. With the rest being ground into there food it should not be a huge deal.

Wags
I have fed unsold xmas trees for the last few years and they love them. We have a lot of pine on our farm and I&#8217;ll chop a few 30 footers down every week during the winter if the weather lets me and dump them in there lot. In the spring I run what they left into the wood chipper and use it for there bedding.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Can you post a photo of your hay grinder? Also I think this is an excellent idea using this as ground roughage. I would worry some about the phos content of this, with it containing so little calcium from the alfalfa hay, for use with bucks. Vicki


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## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

I have never updated to a digital camera and donât have one on my cell phone. If I took a pic with my 35 mm it would be a few weeks before I got it posted. 

But on the good side I found utube video of the hay buster that I have. I did modify the discharge conveyer to shot out the side and not the back.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjkYPlFX6iU&feature=related[/ame]

I found a utube video of a horizontal feed mixer some what like mine. I have a smaller unit that handles around 15,000 pounds a batch. I did modify the discharge to a conveyer is no longer a mobile unit.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRRVe6x6m68&feature=fvw[/ame]


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

One of those times I would like to be a man with big toys! 

So do you think this would boable much smaller with a chipper and a cement mixer? Vicki


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## jesse300 (Oct 13, 2009)

Yes I have big toys but they were left over form the days of breeding and feeding out cattle.

I don&#8217;t know if it would be doable with a chipper and a cement mixer. I&#8217;m thinking about a wood chipper that will take a 6&#8221; chunk of wood and a 10 yard cement mixer. The chipper would leave you with tinny pieces of hay and would the hay come out of the mixer?

I like for them to be able to get a mouth full with out having 6&#8221; chunks of hay hanging out the sides of there month. I feel this gives me less waist form dropping it on the ground.


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