How do I get my 3 month old kids to eat grain????

[TruthSeeker]

Kathleen and Momof23goats... I hope you can help me with this... I can't get my two little Nubians to eat grain... I give them a bottle of milk in the morning and one in the evening... they have hay... they refuse to eat grain!! I try to give them one piece at a time and they turn their nose... They love corn husk.. purple hull peas.. melon... The man I bought them/Penelope from said to put them in with the big goats and they would learn from them... that doesn't work as they are small and manage to get through the fence... HELP!

[momof23goats]

you can try putting in one of your most gentle does, but watch her she might head butt them all around, to get a pecking order .
but I would probably put a drop of so of molasses in the grain. and I do mean a drop. and you can also mix the grain up with foods you know they like.

[SimonJ]

Get some sweet feed and mix a bit in the regular grain. Then cut back the amount slowly.

[Freeholder]

Actually, if they are getting plenty of good quality hay, and/or good browse, they don't really NEED grain....You could start tapering the milk off, take away the morning bottle, and offer a tiny amount of grain instead. Then in a week or so, take away the evening bottle, and offer a tiny amount of grain instead. When they start learning to eat the grain you can increase the amount you give them, but it shouldn't ever become a large percentage of their diet. They'll be healthier if they get mostly roughage, and only small amounts of grain (the amount to vary depending on when they are milking, and how much).

Kathleen

[momof23goats]

Kathleen is right, they don't need a lot of grain, as long as the hay is good. I don't give mine al ot of grain. but they fight over it. I think it is just some thing for them to do. they love to head butt, and do twirls, when they are small.