Do Ran Farms

November 1, two weeks away from first frost in my area and the chicory is providing forage for the doelings. They have not touched the hay yet with so  much chicory forage available. Click on photo to see full sized version.

It is working! The goats ate all the peas and oats first. They did not eat much of the buckwheat or rape, probably 10 percent. Now that the peas are almost gone, they are starting in on the buckwheat grain and rape. The rape should continue to grow throughout the winter. I broadcast some ryegrass seed in the same food plot to give the bare spots some coverage and should provide forage in spring. If they eat all the rape over the winter, I can harvest the excess ryegrass for hay. The dark colored leaves in the photos are the rape leaves. The white flowers in the previous blog post is the buckwheat blooming. Click on photos to see full sized version. Cowboy is enjoying a gluten free breakfast of buckwheat grain. 

August I planted cowpeas, buckwheat, chicory, oats, and rape. The hope is to feed the goats through February. The rape should grow as the goats eat the peas as they should prefer it over the rape. After the first frost, the peas will stop growing and the rape with oats will take over and provide forage through the winter.