On Feeding This Winter

Hay is on our radar now that we think we may actually have a herd alive to consume it so Hots and I discussed our upcoming purchase over lunch today.

Me:  How many bales do you think we need?  I'm thinking around 100 (a number I pulled out of thin air) but will call Carol and ask her what she thinks.

(Carol from the feed store raises both Angora goats and Spanish Boer crosses on her husband's family ranch.  They are third generation goat ranchers and I've relied on her a lot these past 3 weeks.)

Hots took the first natural step and consulted Google for an answer to "How much hay does a goat herd need for the winter?" and found a formula within .007865 of a second.

H:  Can you get your phone out and multiply ___ by ___ by ___.  Got that?  Now divide by ___.
Me:  Ummmm (turning the screen so he can see it)
H:  THREE HUNDRED BALES!!  
People are staring at this point.
H:  And how much are they per bale?
Me:  $7.50.
H:  Whoa.  I'm just not sure about this.  I can't imagine we'd need that many.  This is probably for goats up north who have no feed options whatsoever since everything's under feet of snow.

The sticker shock hung on for the rest of our meal and when I did call Carol this is what she said, "For a herd of 25 I'd say about a bale per week, then you can feed them a high protein feed about once a week (make a note of this tidbit) and make sure you have a high quality mineral mix out at all times."

Carol always makes everything seem simple.  She's good like that.  And straight forward.

So, 4 months of winter x 5 weeks per month (just to be safe) = 20 bales of hay to get us from November through February.

Thank you, Carol, because without your help we would've purchased more than ten winter's worth of hay this season.  Are you as relieved as am I that I went ahead and did NOT tell Carol we'd calculated needing 300 bales for 25 goats?  She'd probably be obligated to report us to someone.  Or maybe she'd ask if we wanted to buy from her.  ;)

We'll purchase 35 bales instead of 300.  My back and our farm account are elated.

Related to this, in the area of feeding, we recently finished our fence work-YEA!!!-and turned the goats onto the other 20+ acres of our place.

We were SO excited after having worked ALL SUMMER LONG getting it ready for them.  They did not share our excitement and have spent very little time in the new area.  They have explored some, but most of their time is spent relaxing by the pens.

Remember that little tidbit about feeding once a week during the winter?  Well, they're so cute and ask with their little goat voices, "Baaaaahhh," each time we're out there and so we've been giving them handouts daily.

Don't tell Carol.

What we have here are lazy goats who are large, evidently in charge, and probably borderline diabetic.  That changes tomorrow when they will be forced to leisurely walk the property looking for food (which is everywhere) on their own.