Interesting. We exclusively used oat straw for our goat bedding for 25 years. The goats never tried to eat it, but it is really soft and absorbent bedding compared with wheat straw. We used all that bedding and manure on our garden all those years. Our “girls” were always relaxed and mellow and chewed their cud frequently. They ate the best 2nd cutting alfalfa we could find year round and increased grain when in milk. Thanks for the info.
My niece had a little Nigerian Dwarf buck show up at her place about 2 years ago. Cute as could be, loaded with ticks, & scared. She managed to get him into the barn & a stall with food & water, then set out finding his owners, which happened fairly quickly.
He was so cute, she decided to get Nigerian Dwarf goats for her girls - a male (wether) & female. Last fall, she bought 2 pregnant Nubians & they had twins & triplets this spring, all does.
My other niece is getting the wether as a pet for her boys (& probably a honeysuckle eater) in about 2 weeks. I hope he’s not too lonely by himself. They have a steer, but he’ll be going to ‘the spa’ in about a week. If he seems lonely, I’m sure she’ll arrange a friend. I don’t know why he’s changing homes ... to be investigated!
After an hour of CHOPPING, everything is in my big white enamel pot, coming to a boil. Yep. I managed to squeak out a double batch of V-8 Juice! I scavenged every tomato I had on hand (I kept two nice slicers just for me!) and used two 28oz. cans of whole, peeled tomatoes to make the total I needed. So, I cheated a little, but just a LITTLE! I also swiped a few carrots that were going to go to Ithaca - but unless he’s sneaking into the house at night, he doesn’t know what was in the fridge. ;)
Now that I think about it, I know I have a dozen or so jars of stewed tomatoes which could also be incorporated into V-8 if necessary. But that means cleaning out the pantry under the stairs. Am I mentally ready for that? LOL!
I have decided on ONE more batch of Bread and Butter Pickles and I am then going to unceremoniously YANK those cucumber plants and re-plant with ‘Good Mother Stollard’ drying beans in their place. Enough has been MORE than enough this season!
Dilly Beans are on deck this upcoming week. I decided to do the V-8 today to lift my spirits. Man, that is some yummy stuff! :)