Feeding the goats in winter

January 16, 2012

We built the farm grain silos in 1998, to strict county requirements. Their capacity was much too generous back then, but ideal now with our herd of over two hundred milking goats. Sixteen years ago, I bought sacks of food from our nutritionalist, John Throckmorten, but we now take delivery of vast amounts via the grain truck. John makes a complete food, with more than forty ingredients, including vetch, clovers, alfalfa, beet pulp, vitamins and so on, but no actual grain. In winter, the food value of the pasture is low, so we compensate for that in this pellet food. After the babies are born, the formula changes to reflect the mothers’ nutritional needs.

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The grain truck auger is a perfect fit for the top of the silo, which must remain water-tight because mold makes goats extremely ill.

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Our pellet food formulas are exact, and balanced with the pasture grasses, so that the flavor of the milk does not change. We may sell sacks of this "Harley Farms Dairy Pellet" ourselves for small goat farmers very soon.