[Jacob-list] food

[Linda]

When Jacobs are referred to as "goat-like", it refers to dairy goats - 
not meat goats. A dairy doe in peak condition is pretty angular looking 
compared to a Boer goat.

Linda


On 1/22/2012 7:01 PM, Betty Berlenbach wrote:

> I also think of jacobs as being different from standardized breeds of 

> sheep: they are "swimmers" not "football player".  That is, they seem 

> to naturally want to be thin.  Their backbones, like shetlands, are 

> different from standardized breeds. My coopworths and jacobs are 

> together, presumably eat the same things, although the smaller jacobs 

> push the coopworths out of the way very often, so might actually get 

> more grain.  Nevertheless, the coopworths are large, their backbones 

> are much smoother. The jacobs remain thin...It's kind of like my 

> husband who can eat three helpings of food and stay thin. I sit and 

> smell the food and put on three pounds.  I don't think THIN is a bad 

> word.  With jacobs and shetlands and other primitive breeds, the 

> instructions in the books about their backbones and what they should 

> feel like, just don't work. I know one shetland breeder in Vermont, 

> the original shetland importer to the States, who, when she sells 

> sheep, suggests that on the way home, the new breeder take the sheep 

> past the vet, and ask the vet to come out and check the backbone and 

> tell the vet, probably unfamiliar with these type of sheep, that this 

> is what a healthy shetland feels like and looks like. I think jacobs 

> are similar.  Which doesn't mean they can't be in poor condition, but 

> I think means that good condition might look different on primitive 

> breeds than on standardized breeds.  I would suggest that if you are 

> not sure, ask an experienced breeder in your vicinity to come over and 

> check them out for you.

> That said, I NEVER feed alfalfa, because I think it's too rich for 

> jacobs, though I know lots of breeders who successfully do, so I think 

> it's just my personal quirk. I feed second cut hay. However, I do give 

> bred ewes about l/4 cup of organic whole grains every day after the 

> second month of gestation, and increase it to perhaps a third of a cup 

> during the first month of lactation. After that, I start reducing the 

> amount, and from weaning til breeding, they primarily get grass, 

> though I have been known to give them about a tablespoon each of 

> organic whole grain a day so they know who god is!  (That is, they 

> will follow the bucket!)  During winter months, when grass isn't 

> growing, I feed second cut hay.  (And that means, mid-October through 

> mid-May, most years!)

>

>

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