Thanks for the tip! I will have to try them both! My barley is growing good and the oats are starting to take off too! Oats seem to take a little longer to sprout so I started mixing barley oats and corn. I should be able to give them the first batch Thursday or Friday!

Hi I have over 1,000 goats and have been raising them for years. We also ran sheep for many years on the ranch. I never feed my goats, goat specific feed, as it is twice as expensive as cow feed, and even some horse feed. We use an alfalfa pellet that has added corn, and feed grass hay that way they get bulk, and protein. Whole corn is an excellent reasonable grain to feed in the winter but is to hot in the summer. With sheep the main concern is over eating and copper. Corn is safe for sheep, and a good grain, you can also buy a 3way or Corn Oats Barley with molasses sometimes called sweet feed. If they are on pasture, and in the winter you can also supplement them with a protein block which is very cost effective, and allows them to get not only protein but salt and minerals. (Be sure you get sheep blocks if you are feeding to both as they do have added copper.) Also before feeding any grain sheep have to be vaccinated for over eating. Sarah "My Small Farm Expert"

hi all, i am new with my goats, bosco, makayla, leona,dalton, 1- lamb shy shy 1 bably minature zebu calf 6 weeks old, I cant explain the love I have for all my babies! I can tell you they all love honey grahm crackers, old fashion oats,and go figue corn on the cob!! They all came to me after hurrican wilma in oct. and i cant image not having them around, they have a jungle gym to play on and i am teaching them to play kick ball. I love Them!! lisa

I got this from another posting on this forum. RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by argamonius (My Page) on Thu, Sep 4, 08 at 14:12 In response to Farmfreedom, boargoats (meat goats) free range mostly with just enough grain so they come running when i ring the bell for feedtime, otherwise I'd have to use the dog. I'm still working out the details for venture capital into an expanded operation of freerange chevon(7-12mon old) and cabrito(3-6mon old) satelite farm. Mexico border land may have poeple cutting through to get to the US or worse Mexico. Drugs, coyotes, immigrants, criminals, minutemen :P I presumme you want solidtude with little oversite, and loose permit building. In Fl they only check on permits for building in the county if a neighbors calls it in. Saw a site billyland.com that offers pretty loose financing. I believe it falls in the reverse auction cat. which may be another option for you. You bid the downpayment for the land you want. I haven't waded through my email yet, so i don't know your parameters for the min land requirements. Other then cheapest possible. o RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by farmfreedom (My Page) on Fri, Sep 5, 08 at 12:29 My requirements for land are pretty much "NO LIABILITES" and I want as much as I can get in acreage as possible for the money . Minimum size would be 10 acres . I have no problem with the U.S. LAND along the Mexican border . An Ibex can jump 40 feet in a single bound perhaps this will give the coyotes something to deal with maybe you should breed some in to your stock . I was glad to hear that there are no land taxes in Texas do they tax buildings? How about other property ? o RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by argamonius (My Page) on Fri, Sep 5, 08 at 18:11 well theres 10-20 acres in az and nm for about 1500.00 -2500.00. that cheap enough? I don't think you can raise animals there for lack of forage land, goats can survive on weeds and brush if needed. Haven't looked into Ibex, but i'm sure I wouldn't want my goats jumping 40ft lol. depending on your needs (crops,livestock,ect) you want to spend a bit more for passable forageland or grazing land and start some goats, which will fertilize the area pretty well, thier excrement is small round pellets and melt well enough in regular rainfalls, keep your numbers to about 3 to an acre so the children (ave of 2-3 per fem) will have edible forage. after about 4-5mon sell the kids and bank the money for better or larger lands, keep moving up until you reach your max (what you can handle solo) the billyland site has easy terms, just bid the downpayment, then pay the monthly until you sell the first round of kids, and then pay off the balance. then use the land to trade up after the second round of kids are sold. Its good enough for Abraham :P Locate a sattelitte farming company and when you find your land ask them if they are willing to pick up animals, if your first round is small enough you could even go into town with them and sell them to an ethnic meats butcher/processor theres one in just about every big city in america, you'd be surprised to learn that about 25% of americans have ethnic dishes and/or religious feasts where the central component is a goat/kid (usually kids). Use the 3 goats to an acre model, and continually sell the kids, males first keep females if you lose any or wish to increase a bit, but don't let them eat too much of the forage and grass, for a couple months you may need to feed them quality hay (winter) and grains with minerals. If they start showing signs of getting worms or diarea,(easy enough to spot since they sorta quarintine themselves) give them a dewormer and feed them dannon yogurt with the immunitas stuff in it. In a year or so you'll be unpgrading land and stock, so by an RV and a livestock trailer on the cheap. If theres no river/creek/well on the land, rent a back hoe and make a manmade lake/canal and some live catfish, go fishing for the rest. give the goats a tiny bit of feed when you ring a bell as they grow, then later when you load the goats onto a trailer just ring a bell and walk in with the feed and theyll follow. Of course all this only matters if your interested in goats. As an independant/hermit like person, they are ideal, and the meat is ultra lean. Some parts of 3-4mon yr old kids sell in the market for about 24.00/lb though if you raise them you'll only get about 100-130.oo live wieght per kid or 1.10/lb live wieght depending on who you sell to. During religous feast the right kind of kid can sell for 200.00 each, selling direct to the person. chew on that :P p.s Greek,Jamaican,Muslim,Jewish,Mexican,Asian,are just a few nationalities and ethnic groups with a need for kid meat, or big smelly bucks in the case of Jamaican and South Pacific groups. p.s.s I got a 25,000.00 slot for venture capitalists if anyone is interested. Five year balloon payment is 50,000. 25k in 50k out, simple