What can I say, I like to live life on the edge; with lots of danger and excitement. Cause, um, goat food is so -- so -- risky and thrilling, Okay, I give. I plead guilty to being a farm girl. And one who likes to cut costs when possible, increase profit, and be able to customize my own feed for my stock. That's excitement enough for me. Almost seven years ago I started looking around for a way to make my own custom feed for my milking does. 17 for a 50 lb.
Can you really mix your own feed, Then I found a recipe that seemed easy enough to make, proved to be cost effective, and the goats did AMAZINGLY on it. I've used this recipe ever since. I've even fed it to my dairy cows (with a slight modification that is explained below). So I thought I would share my recipe with y'all; if you're looking to try making your own feed for your caprine friends, then give this one a whirl!
Doesn't matter unless you're feeding cows. Then you want it crushed/rolled to increase digestibility. The barley is essential for this mix. The oats can be replaced with a different grain, but take care that you look into how that changes the protein content. This mix is supposed to come out averaging 16% to 18% protein, but you may want to check that on your own since grain can vary in protein content from area to area. 1. Find a big clean tarp (those blue, 10'x12' ones work great) and a clean leaf rake.
These are your grain mixing tools! 2. Dump the oats and barley onto the tarp and use that rake to start mixing it all together. This can take a few minutes. 3. Once the grain is thoroughly mixed, scatter the linseed meal and kelp meal over it all and gently spread it out. 4. Pour molasses over and mix that in too until you get a slightly tacky, but still well coated mix. How much molasses does it take,
I can't say for sure. I've gotten thin batches that took loads of that sticky, sweet stuff to coat everything. I would probably suggest starting with 10-12 cups worth and then working your way up from there. It takes a LOT of mixing to really coat everything. It's almost like you have to "rub" it into the grain with that rake.
When you think you've gotten everything coated, pull on a tarp corner to get the bottom flipped onto the top and then get that coated. Yep, right when you think you're done, you'll find that you're not. I kept my grain in metal trash cans meant specifically for grain. You may have noticed that I didn't include any salt in the mix; that's because I offer salt free choice at all times to my goats/cows.
The kelp meal is a nutritional powerhouse that is packed with vitamins, minerals, and other such goodies, but not all of my goats would eat it free choice. Hiding it in the molasses coated feed got it in them no problem. So there you have it! It's easy to make, relatively cheap, and you are able to choose what is - or isn't - in your feed.
If you eat foods that are high inflammatory foods, your seasonal allergies can be worse especially if you're already sensitive to a particular food. For me that would be sugar, and that can be a big problem, because I love my sweets. There are two types of foods that can cause an inflammatory reaction that will exhaust your immune system. The first type are the foods you can't digest well; ones you may not even know you have a problem with. The most common food allergies are wheat, milk, eggs, and peanuts.
Tags:
How Make Food