# Tifton Hay



## milkmaidranch (Jun 21, 2010)

Do any of you feed Tifton hay to your goats? I just bought a bale and they went nuts over it. Tests at 18% so I stopped the alfalfa pellets. They were starting to get bound up so I stopped the pellets but they are getting the dairy ration. The milk is so sweet and creamy now. 

Anything someone can tell me about Tifton? I did ask around before buying it but I want to know from the people here also. Anything bad happen to your goats while on it? 

Suzy


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Where is their calcium coming from?


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

We used to buy Tifton when we lived in the valley. Good stuff. The calcium thing though may be a concern if you don't feed an alfalfa.


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

Good grass hay, my inlaws use it for their horses and I got a square from them and the goats liked it.... Wouldn't ditch alfalfa though as the tifton doesn't have the calcium of alfalfa.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

We use Tifton 88 from a professional hay grower and the goats love it. He does a nutritional profile on it each cutting. Fabulous stuff for southern hay. We do however also feed alfalfa to late gestation early lactation does. 
I have stopped feeding a-pellets for so long because of the cost and I had no metabolic issues this year. My total alfalfa pellet time was 2 months. Last month of pregnancy and first month lactation. Otherwise they are on whole grains and tifton 88 and winter grasses.


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## milkmaidranch (Jun 21, 2010)

The girls are also out on pasture and getting Chaffhaye with their dairy ration. I'm wondering, for goats that are just out on pasture and never fed alfalfa, then were do they get cal? It has to come from some other source. I know many goat people that never feed alfalfa. It can't be the only source of cal.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Our native grasses have some calcium. Nothing like legumes which is why we seeded several types of clover in with our grasses. They are equal to alfalfa in their uptake of calcium. It also helps to lime your pasture with dolomitic lime which boosts both phos and cal levels in the soil and increases ph so calcium is available to the grasses. Whole grains also have calcium. One cup of oats supplies about 40 grams of calcium. The key for us is the mix of grasses by season. We have a wide range of natives plus introduced species that are both fertilized and limed.

This is a nice chart about grasses and hays noting the calcium levels. 
http://www.guinealynx.info/hay_calcium.html

Lee


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## milkmaidranch (Jun 21, 2010)

Thanks Lee, LOVE the photo of the Nub kids by the way. LOL


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