[plumseverywhere]

Hi All

Our togg wether had access to a christmas tree and enjoyed a chomp before I stepped in. Have been googling everywhere but getting mixed reviews as to whether its safe for them or not?
Anyone here have any advice or experience please? also for holly (but not berries, just leaves)

thank you!

[jaykay]

Ellie and Rowan certainly like holly. Suspect it might be self-limiting, ie your lips get sore if you try to eat too much!

The collective view on the Goat forum on Ravelry was that Christmas trees were fine for goats, as long as you hadn't bought them from somewhere that was likely to have sprayed it with anti-needle-drop spray ie a garden centre or similar.

My tree this year was a little growing one, so their Ladyships have not been allowed anywhere near it!

[plumseverywhere]

Thank you Jaykay! They've had some holly, so phew!  they enjoyed it too.

Best to avoid giving the rootless tree to them then as not sure if it was sprayed. We also had a little one in a pot to try and grow on - must plant long way away from livestock!!

[colliewoman]

I gave mine Christmas trees deliberately. Only from a trusted source though, I wouldn't feed garden center cut trees just in case

[plumseverywhere]

Are conifers an issue? When savannah escapes she sometimes snaffles a quick mouthful...should I worry?  I wish I'd checked to see if our xmas tree was sprayed or not, it would have been nice to feed it to them.

[jaykay]

I seem to recall that things like Leyllandi are but pines and firs in small amounts are not.

[Lesley Silvester]

I thought they were all bad.  Not that we had a tree but if I ever do get one it would be good to give it to the goats.  Mine like holly as well.

[ballingall]

Holly is ok, but obviously cause of the prickles it tends to not be their favourite thing to eat. My OH found an article about a man with a commercial herd of goats which he fed Xmas trees to, but generally evergreens aren't terribly good for goats. I didn't give our tree to them, and I don't think I would.


Leylandi, we had a fair amount of that, and goats would often snatch a quick mouthful in passing and they never came to any harm, but I would try and steer them clear. There again, ours used to steal mouthfuls of the snowberry hedge, and it is definitely poisonous, and that never did them any harm either.




Beth

[jaykay]

Most evergreens are bad news, and some (laurel, rhododendron) are lethal in quite small amounts. It's not a bad rule of thumb to avoid them all if you're not sure. 

[Lesley Silvester]

My first goat had one small bite of laurel and I nearly lost her.  She was in agony, bellowing and throwing herself across the shed.  I took the laurel out the same day.  Don't ever want a repeat of that experience.