lassemista
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Substitute for sugar beet shredsI give my goats sugar beet to bulk up the goat mix, and keep one occupied for longer while I milk her. I also think it is quite high fibre, to make up for a lack of browsing in their field.
Problem is that the feed merchant has run out and won't have any more until the campaign starts at the end of the year. Can anyone suggest a substitute that won't break the bank?
Andrea.
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RichardW
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Sugar beet nuts? We had the same problem. Some of the goats would eat shreads but not nuts, others would eat both.
You will prob be able to get some "easy beat" as thats for horses & they would not dare run out of that, but it does cost)
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lassemista
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They have Kwikbeet, but it costs more than the coarse mix!! The ordinary nuts have gone as well.
I wondered about chaff, but it would only do the slowing down, they can fill up on hay. I looked at (I think) rolled peas, and micronised barley, but seems to me that is concentrate, not bulk.
I'm stumped.
andrea.
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Rob R
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It's not much use now, but for next year maybe, when I used to use MSBF I always made sure to stock up to see me through the 'off' season.
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Cathryn
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What about grass nuts or a very cheap cake as it will be high in fibre?
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Ixy
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what about bran?
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Cathryn
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Oat (or is it barley) straw? That should be available around now shouldn't it?
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Tavascarow
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Rolled oats are cheap.
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milkmaid
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mine get sheep crunch as everything else here is unpredicable food wise and alpha A
and a lick 
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lassemista
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Are grass nuts a horse feed? Cake is? Sheep or cow food? Sorry - I am rather ignorant.
Is bran OK for goats - it should certainly have lots of fibre  .
Rolled oats - I thought this would be more af another concentrate, but perhaps I am wrong. I don't want to unbalance the mix - just bulk it out.
Sheep crunch and alpha a - I have never heard of either of these. Are they complete feeds?
They have a lick, so mineral content should be OK.
thanks everyone.
Andrea.
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milkmaid
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sheep crunch is a total feed
i've used bran before but only in smaller amounts ,
alpha A (horse feed)is used by a lot of goat people who do milking comps ect it's fairly high in protien though ,so you need to lower the protien levels other wise you can cause kidney problems ,it's fairly bulky ,big bag lasts ages
sheep crunch used to at one piont many years ago ,be known as sheep and goat crunch .it has beet in it
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Mutton
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Not ever fed bran. (We've got sheep).
Neighbour caused pregnancy toxeamia in his sheep by over-feeding them on dry stuff (he reckoned that was the cause) and they got bunged up.
Just a worrying thought that may be totally irrelevant.
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Rob R
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They do warn against feeding lots of hay and not much concentrate/feeding hay before concentrate in sheep in the final trimester of pregnancy (as at this stage the gut volume is reduced in multiple carrying ewes), but at all other times this isn't a concern. In one of the high input flocks I've been involved with, it never happened, even on ad lib hay, though. I guess it also depends upon thetype of ewe too.
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lassemista
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I got some chaff in the end - it was only £4 something a bag and a handful slows her down nicely.
But while I was looking around I saw that CWG's sheep mix was only £6 a bag, where the goat mix is nearly £10. I asked the reason and was told that it was essentially marketing - the goat mix is a named brand in a pretty bag(!), and the sheep mix is their own brand. Otherwise the only difference seemed to be the copper (ie there isn't any in the sheep mix). My goats have licks which include copper.
Any thoughts on whether the sheep mix would be OK for the goats, or perhaps a mix of the 2?
Andrea.
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Rob R
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Yeah, sheep mix will be fine, especially if you're giving extra supplements anyway.
Mine used to get calf coarse mix for a while, then later rolled barley or oats, sugar beet or apples or whatever was in season, plus hay/grazing. It's hard work to kill a goat through nutrition.
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milkmaid
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mine have been on it for about 5 years ,with lick ,i've not had a problem
goat mix went up here to 13 pounds a bag and the sheep crunch is 8 .70 or there abouts ,at 13 pounds a bag i could be drinking gold top milk all the time 
mind you as a set aside i've got a book that sugggests cow dairy nuts ,this was from years ago ,
i wondered about giving dairy nuts ,
when i go to the dairy farm down the road i'm always surprised at how little they get against what the goats eat
phoned harbo and they said the copper might be a problem ,as it's quite high in dairy nuts ,they had phoned a couple of farmers for me which was good of them ,anybody done it
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lassemista
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I have got a bag of each this time and will mix them. Probably not a good idea to change too suddenly. I noticed tha label on the sheep mix said there would be background copper, but mqaybe that is like "may contain peanuts"!
Andrea.
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milkmaid
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well just got a shock daughter says sheep mix here has now gone to 10.15 a bag ,god knows how much the goat mix is so time i think to backwards to straights ,of course i will not mix it 
my daughter has pionted out her pony is cheaper to feed
so it looks like much more roughage for the goats and a lot less concentrates finding it a nightmare to do research as everywhere i'm looking has of course feed your goat on goat mix  
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Rob R
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| milkmaid wrote: | | finding it a nightmare to do research as everywhere i'm looking has of course feed your goat on goat mix |
Yeah, that makes you realise just how much modern smallholding has become no more sustainable than an intensive commercial farm in miniature. The best thing to do is probably go back to basics & buy a couple of good books, one on the nutritional requirements of goats and the other on the analysis of many different feeds and do all the legwork of what works best yourself.
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Ixy
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Put it this way - nothing here eats any kind of complete food or pellets...and they look OK on it
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milkmaid
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yep ,i could sit and go though daughters files on feed analisis ,2 boxs full most of which i have no chance of understanding  ,i'd better dig out the books they are here some where it's just hard to get any consituants for feed here ,it was easier when we kept goats in kent ,25 years ago ,food left on fence ,peels old bread ect very little hard feed goats just ate weeds stuff, grown it the garden ,and branches from the hazel, trees around us, i think they had 1/2 to 3/4 a scoop a day and produced well ,must admit states is worse reading some of the goat forums there feed is hay concentrate and brows as a treat ,my herd is going down as 5 kids are going to new homes and in freezer ,and just going back to the 3
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Rob R
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I only ever gave mine hay or silage plus few oats or barley at milking time with sugar beet fresh or MSBF or whatever was seasonal at the time. Apples & oak leaves were very popular.
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gekkko
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Feed prices are certainly becoming a big issue. I've downgraded the hens to own brand and wheat until they get round to laying again, we've abandonned winter lambing in favour of Spring to reduce the nuts/blocks/buckets/straw bill, bought hay in in big round bales which we can just about handle (using builder's dumpy bags to distribute it).
As for shreds, have always used the nuts as had heard too many incidents of animals choking on the long soggy stringy bits. Whole beet around here not an option...back in Norfolk the dogs loved nothing more than a slightly rancid beet brought back from a late evening walk (or a live hedgehog!).
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