[Jacob-list] hay extenders

[Elaina Kenyon]

Last year, With NC in its 4th or 5th year of drought and prices of hay
mounting and availability coming into question, I researched various hay
alternatives and considered the issues involved with each.  All of these
should be considered in the nature of hay extenders (NOT as a total
substitute).  All of them have the advantage of minimal to no waste (given
the expense this would be a practical requirement) and high digestibility.

One is beet pulp - ABSOLUTELY MUST be fed wet.  If fed dry, it can swell in
the rumen, cause a variety of unpleasant complications, most of which are
likely to result in death.  Basically you soak it in approximately and equal
volume of water a few hours before feeding and feed it moist.  You have to
use it soon to be sure it doesn't mold or ferment.  In my taste tests, the
goats liked it and the sheep were very dubious and only nibbled.

Hay extender pellets is another; these are different from Alfalfa pellets.
Blue seal makes two different varieties that come with instructions on how
to feed them - a horse one (larger pellet) and a general one.  My goats
again thought these were quite tasty; the sheep were a little dubious by got
with the program after a couple of weeks.  One concern I have about pellets
in general is that there seems to be a higher incidence of choking.

Chopped forage that comes compressed in a sealed plastic bag - looks much
like a little bale of hay.  There are several varieties - both alfalfa and
timothy.  I tried Triple Crown brand (not the alfalfa variety) and the sheep
thought it was delicious while the goats turned up their noses.  What I used
did have molasses added.

I'm not sure to what extend one could substitute these products for hay.  I
think consultation with a professional in ruminant nutrition would be in
order.  Luckily the situation never got so severe that I was forced in this
direction.  

Some mention was made of feeding only pellets as a ration, i.e. complete.
This is done in the meat sheep world when feeding market wethers.  Research
has been done demonstrating that a diet of only pellets results in markedly
different development of the ruminant stomach system.  It is only something
you would do for animals that were intended to go for meat - not to be used
for breeding animals.


 -- 
Elaina Kenyon <avillionfarm at earthlink.net>
Shetland Sheep, Angora Goats, Angora Rabbits
http://www.avillionfarm.com