Pasture for pregnant & lactating goats

3 posts
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 15:09 #1

Member for

12 years 4 months
Goat woman
Last seen: 06/22/2016 - 16:37
Joined: 08/06/2012 - 13:54

Pasture for pregnant & lactating goats

Sorry all, I must not have posted my initial question properly, leaving the post blank. I will try again!Smile

If Currey is not interested in the answer to his pasture question I certainly am as I have the same query.

My property is at Braidwood NSW, the southern tablelands, on a ridge so not great land.

 I would like to improve a paddock for pregnant & lactating Boer x goats.  Kidding occurs very late September but mostly into October & weaning 3 months later. 

The paddock of about 10 ha consists of native grasses, predominantly, kangaroo grass, some wallaby & struggling microlena (under black wattle trees).  I am finding the native grasses are simply not enough to sustain the lactation or even to grow out the weaners. I am spending big $ on supplementary feed & have decided it would be more economical to plant a better pasture. 

Three years ago the paddock was fertilised with superphosphate with the highest molybdenum content.  This autumn we limed to help with high aluminium levels & to improve the acid PH.  The paddock is on the downward side of a harvested pine forest. Further soil tests will be carried out in January. The best time for us to seed is Autumn next year, we will fertilise at the same time.

We are hesitant to whole scale poison as there is little top soil, & I believe there are native grass laws which forbid this anyway; we would rather direct drill into the existing grasses. 

The topsoil is light clay with a PH 4.1, subsoil is loam clay PH 4.3 

Annual average rainfall is 718mm.

I would like a permanent pasture for my goats.  

Thank you for your suggestions & help.

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Thu, 08/09/2012 - 17:17 #2
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Goat Woman,

As you will be aware being an owner of goats, they tend to preferentially graze taller grasses, shrubs and weeds. Goats also often graze the least common plant species in the area.This can result in pastures that are clover domiant. 

Trying to establish a new pasture whilst the old pasture is still growing will be very difficult, hence why the practice of spraying out the old pasture is very common. Most pasture species grow from a small seed and therefore contain limited amounts of energy and are slow to establish. If you are going to try and establish a new pasture without chemicals you will need to at a minimum slash or mulch the existing pasture down before you sow to give the new pasture any chance of establishment.

With this in mind you will only want to use pasture species (ryegrass, grazing herbs) that have good establishment vigour (they all vary), ones that produce during kidding and lactation from September to December and also those which have tolerance to acidity. Below is a pasture mix that I would recommend:

Italian or short term ryegrass 8kg/ha (strong establishment vigour and winter, spring growth)
Perennial ryegrass 13kg/ha (strong establishment vigour and spring, summer growth)
Plantain 2kg/ha (grazing herb, grows all year round, contains high levels of minerals)
Chicory 2kg/ha (grazing herb, strong spring and summer growth, contains high levels of minerals)
Sub-clover 3kg/ha (grows during autumn, winter and spring, a legume that fixes nitrogen)
White clover 2kg/ha (strong spring and summer growth, a legume that fixes nitrogen)
Total 30kg/ha       

The sowing rates of these pasture species are higher than you would normally use because you are going to be sowing into an existing pasture.

I hope this is of assistance, any questions let me know.

Regards,

Charlie

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Thu, 08/09/2012 - 18:59 #3
Goat woman
Last seen: 06/22/2016 - 16:37
Joined: 08/06/2012 - 13:54

Thank you so much Charlie for your answer & suggestions, much appreciated.

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