[mojocafa]

Pine trees,cones and needles!

Toxic or not?

I am thinking of putting my goats in a paddock that as about 10 very mature pine trees in it.
Is this a wise idea or not?

[pharnorth]

Mine feasted on discarded Christmas trees last year. My bit for village waste recycling!  All goats still present and correct plus several offspring.

[landroverroy]

Pine trees,cones and needles!

Toxic or not?

I am thinking of putting my goats in a paddock that as about 10 very mature pine trees in it.
Is this a wise idea or not?

Possibly the goats will have a toxic effect on the trees when they strip the bark.

[Anke]

I normally feed my (not sprayed) Xmas tree to the sheep - and it is usually returned to us for kindling minus the needles and the bark...

[pharnorth]

Yes it is a good point regarding sprayed Vs non sprayed Christmas trees......  My understanding is that many are sprayed with a latex spray to help the needles stay on longer after cutting.  The needles on the sprayed ones are shinier (better consumer appeal no doubt!). I'm not clear if this is natural or synthetic latex but either way is regarded as non toxic.......   I found the goats were self selecting and ignored the sprayed ones for several weeks until they had been rained on a few times and lost their shine then they gobbled them up.

[arobwk]

As deer and sheep are known conifer nibblers (young growth at least), I can't imagine goats would be troubled !!