The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Bumblebear on August 02, 2012, 10:58:17 pm

Title: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 02, 2012, 10:58:17 pm
Hello, our new girls  :goat: are home  :excited: and settling in nicely BUT I have one question: can they graze in a paddock with a "hedge" of cherry tree suckers?

Also, do you lock your goats in their shed at night or leave them out?  And (last one promise!) do you leave anything other than hay and their food/water with them overnight i.e. branches of anything?

Thanking you! 
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: tizaala on August 03, 2012, 05:48:46 am
A little nible on cherry won't harm them but, too much is poisonous, they love cherry and won't leave it alone untill they recieve to toxic dose.
As long as you are confident that your fences are sound and high and they have shelter they should be ok ,  but as they are renouned escape artists you would be better off locking them in for the night with hay and water for your own peace of mind , a goat can wander a long way overnight.
Yes just Hay and water is fine with either a red or yellow rocky, hazell or willow branches for their entertainment . :fc:
 
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: bangbang on August 03, 2012, 06:43:27 am
We have no hedges so I can't help with the first part. At night, ours get hay, fresh water, and 'crunchies' as a
treat. We have given them willow sticks to chew on in the past, but the prefer nibbling their shed, wheel barrow, fenceposts..etc..etc...and they love clothing, not wearing them chewing on them.
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 03, 2012, 07:14:03 am
Thank you.  Bye bye cherry suckers then.
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: plumseverywhere on August 03, 2012, 08:04:37 am
Mine aren't locked in at night any more - we tried it but they fought so badly and then it transpired they'd never been locked in before and they were stressed by it. We are lucky that we don't have escapee's and I'm quite happy them being allowed access out and they can get into their shed if needs be but its got to be what you are happy/confident with.
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Penninehillbilly on August 03, 2012, 11:49:08 am
I have wild cherry suckers down the field, (actual hedge is fenced off for windbreak) goats keep them down so there is never very much anyway, the main thing they are poisonous when wilted, so don't leave any cut branches about.
Cherry (all varieties) - Prunus cerasus - High - wilted leaves - cyanide
My girls are locked in for security, boys are left out in field away from lane, stock fence + electric fence + field shelter.
they always have hay + water, I feed concentrates only twice a day
They love rosebay willow herb hung up, or willow branches, then I throw the branches out in the field for a couple of days while they strip the rest of the bark off.
 
And I'm sure you know we LOVE lots of questions  ;D . we can all learn by someone elses queries.
 
 
 
 
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: countrywoman on August 03, 2012, 12:18:24 pm
Defintely don't let them near wilted cherry leaves (or plum/damson, wild or otherwise, or sloe, all are poisonous but palatable when wilted) and restrict daily access until the quantity has been reduced because if they haven't had cherry before they'll need a while for their digestion to get used to it.
 
My goats are shut in at night - which was the previous owner's method, too - and look forward to going back in to their hay racks.  They have water 24/7, of course, and branches/green fodder when in their excercise yards during the day.  I tried leaving branches overnight but being long-haired they ended up with bits of branch tangled and knotted in, which needed gently teasing out before I could milk so now they just have hay/straw and water after they've finished the evening concentrates. 
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 03, 2012, 03:37:04 pm
So are you gus saying that the cherry sucker hedge is ok?  It is alive and thriving and the tree is a few feet away...is it only poisonous when you cut it then (I have no plans as it is our windbreak too!)?

This feeding thing is a nightmare, which would be better helped if I knew the names of more plants and hedges!  ps.  they have not touched the thistle I hung up for them....when people said they were fussy I had no idea HOW fussy..... ;)
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: plumseverywhere on August 03, 2012, 03:55:11 pm
I think too much of it is poisonous and any wilted is also?


MIne don't eat thistles but they love wilted nettles...bindweed....pea and bean haulms....willow....
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Penninehillbilly on August 03, 2012, 04:47:05 pm
Quote - So are you gus saying that the cherry sucker hedge is ok
I was wondering who was called Gus ;D
 
If the cherry suckers are large and needed for windbreak I would put a fence + electric fence up, or cut them down and remove them. I let the goats keep nibbling the new growth back on the small suckers as they come up in the field, the little bits they eat won't harm them. If there is a full hedge to go at I think they would just keep at it and end up poorly or ?.
(Sorry about the 'bold' in previous post, not shouting, it was as I copied it from my chart).
 
You will really have to get a book from your library and check out all your plants, good bedtime reading :) , thinking about it, when we have animals we need so much (or at least a bit of) knowledge of so many different things!
Goat books will normally tell you what is poisonous.
 
Mine must have eaten some foxglove last week, presumably when I saw one with some froth round her mouth, she seems OK now. I didn't think they would touch it, never have before, and I'd removed most of it.
They ignored the thistles till they flower, then they delicately bite off the heads, same with nettles, been walking straight past, now won't come in till they've had a few mouthfuls of flower/seeding tops.
 
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Lesley Silvester on August 03, 2012, 04:49:35 pm
I never shut mine in as they don't like it.  They have access to their well fenced yard and are often out in it in the early hours.  They have water and hay overnight.
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 03, 2012, 05:15:25 pm
Quote - So are you gus saying that the cherry sucker hedge is ok
I was wondering who was called Gus ;D

Ha those guys called gus who keyboard nap me ;)

I have looked at websites and books for a lot of my plants/weeds but there is one that I cannot find; it's tall with small dandelion type flowers on it....anyone recommend a good weed book?

As for the cherry hedge, we'll just move the chook run 90 deg and put it along the fence instead of along the paddock.  We'll keep the shade and keep the goats safe too  ;D   
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: plumseverywhere on August 03, 2012, 05:42:18 pm



I have looked at websites and books for a lot of my plants/weeds but there is one that I cannot find; it's tall with small dandelion type flowers on it....anyone recommend a good weed book?

 ;D   


Not Ragwort is it?!





Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: goosepimple on August 03, 2012, 06:53:23 pm
if you pm me your address I can send you a list of poisonous plants I was given when I bought our pygmy goats - its best to be safe, things are often more toxic once they have wilted, don't assume anything is ok, we managed to kill a sheep earlier this year when she ate a rhodedendron plant (we knew this was poisonous but didn't see it, it was tiny but big enough obviously) and someone else on this website said once that a neighbour fed rhubarb leaves to a friends goats with good intentions and killed them.


Some goats eat everything and you have to be super careful, some are more choosy, can depend on the breed you have as much as the individual so get to know them by leaning on the fence and watching.


Take your pasture management seriously - we bought a book on poisonous plants and one on wild flowering plants in Britain which makes you paranoid about everything though.


Make sure you know the obvious ones - laurel, rhode, azaleas - shiny hard crispy leaved plants like these are poisonous, but also ragwort, bracken, hemlock are quite deadly.


Try not to get too stressed about it, enjoy your goats they are great fun and accidents do happen even to those tv celebrity smallholders!




Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Penninehillbilly on August 03, 2012, 07:39:54 pm
Quote -
I have looked at websites and books for a lot of my plants/weeds but there is one that I cannot find; it's tall with small dandelion type flowers on it....anyone recommend a good weed book?

How about a photo?
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: goosepimple on August 03, 2012, 09:42:11 pm
Get it out immediately if it is ragwort - it has a frilly leaf - and check there aren't any smaller versions not opened their flowers yet and so are not so noticeable, its a killer - also foxglove (very tall cottage garden type flowering plant, bell like flowers all the way up its stem, usually purple or white flowers, with soft large leafs at the base of the stem - lot of them out just now), get them out asap and deal with all poisonous plants by burning - if you leave them around something else might get them and the wilted versions are even more poisonous.
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 04, 2012, 08:34:55 pm
No, not ragwort, I'll take a piccy now.....brb ;)
Title: Re: Cherry sucker hedge
Post by: Bumblebear on August 04, 2012, 09:06:01 pm
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7132/7712280934_f1319434ed.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8290/7712297002_2fa1065042.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7254/7712304194_d9219e8d7b.jpg)

It is tall and I haven't seen it in any books or on websites.  The closest thing I have found was nipplewort, but the leaves aren't round....