Our doelings don't know what grain is. We have to teach them to eat it. When you tell people, some think we aren't telling them the whole story. We are. They truly don't know what to think about food in a sack.
We fed one of the horses this afternoon and have some doelings that aren't big enough to breed in the paddock with him. The comment was made it was about time to start teaching the doelings to eat grain. So we put some feed in flat pan near them. They ignored us so we rattled it. They took off the other direction a few steps before turning to see if we were chasing them. Not the first time we have seen this reaction.
After 10 minutes of trying to lure them over it started to grain; we just gave up and left. Now some of you are probably wondering why we want to teach them to eat bagged feed anyway. Real simple: (1) we do have to feed some grain in the second and third trimester of gestation unless we wait to breed in late December and (2) when we decide to work them or catch them if they get out, grain is far easier than running through the brush.
As an example, we lost some goats in July that found a whole in the fence. They wouldn't come to a rattling feed bucket. With close to 2,000 acres of unfenced property around us, much of it brush, they disappeared. Probably eaten by the coyotes or big cats that wander around the area. The rogue band consisted of one Spanish doe and 11 or 12 doelings. None cared about the sound of rattling feed in the bucket.
So how do we teach them to eat grain. The easiest way is by example. The good news is we will soon be in the middle of the winter and the natural feed sources are dying off. It is a lot easier to train them in the winter than the summer. The older does have been fed for 60 days in the winter when we breed early. The younger ones usually watch at first, then curiosity finishes the work. As silly as it may sound, the process takes two or three weeks.
The thought has come to us that we may just need to breed some smarter goats!
Well, grain is a very healthy food so why not.
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