My husband usually asks the questions on the forum for our family but today I had one and he's not here so I will ask it. Can anyone give me any information about feeding alfalfa to pregnant goats ? I seem to have read about somewhere once but can't find that source now.

Thank you, Margaret :)

-- Margaret Murdock MO (jrm@salemnet.com), January 21, 2002

Answers

Margaret, there are studies that show that feeding pure alfalfa hay to pregnant goats will lead to higher incidence of "milk fever" prior too or immediately following kidding. Our hay field is mostly alfalfa, but I have found that there is enough grass in it that I have never had a problem.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 21, 2002.

I agree... Our crop tends to be about 60-75% alfalfa, so that's what my goats have always been fed...and I put up 2nd and 3rd crop for our use (softer, less stemmy), and my herd has done well on that for about 10+ years now.. no problems. I think the key is to be sure it's well cured, not damp when baled, so it doesn't get moldy and/or dusty..usually with enough grass in it, it'll dry out nicely. :)patty Prairie Oak Miniatures http://www.minifarm.com/prairie_oak visit our message board! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Littlegoats moderator

-- Patty Putnam (WI) (littlegoats@wi.rr.com), January 21, 2002.

I feed pure alfalfa to my sheep (200 ewes all ages 10mos to 9 years old) and have done for 9 years. By the time a ewe is about to lamb it's only eating about 1-2 pounds of hay per day, there just isn't room inside to hold too much alfalfa. Goats aren't sheep (and since I fed my cattle similarly for 15 years but they aren't those either) Certainly every treatment suggested for treating Preg Tox and calcium deficency in sheep says feed alfalfa or alfalfa pellets. I've read what you've read too, (somewhere!) and maybe it applies to goats but it doesn't apply to sheep for sure. I doubt I've 6 cases of calcium def. in over 20 years farming

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), January 21, 2002.

I tried in vain to find the goat info on calcium. So in my lame attempt to explain this please bear with me. First dairy goats are not sheep, even the best ewe will never be the milking machine a average dairy goat is. I am also not talking to meat goat breeders. A milker in the end of pregnancy needs to pull calcium from her blood that she has stored, not the everyday excess of calicum she is being fed (readibly absorbable) in her alfalfa. Also hay and grain is easy to digest and a good milker after milking for 10 months will have a rumen about 1/2 the size it should be. So putting her on poorer quality hay for the last 50 days of pregnancy stretches out the rumen so she can eat more alfalfa and grain the first part of pregnancy. If a doe doesn't utilize the alfalfa in her blood it will cause pregnancy toxemia and milk fever, and that the problem blood tests will show that she is difficient in calcium even though she has her head in an alfalfa feeder, because she isn't utilizing her store calcium. Hypo calcemia, where there has never been enough calcium in the diet all along, which mimic's Ketosis, is another story. So yes, though a correct calcium to phosphurus ratio is very important always in your goats, if you back off on the alfalfa late pregnancy she will ease into the milking parlor in better metobolic health. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 21, 2002.