The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: melodrama on August 30, 2011, 10:22:02 am
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I now have my lovely goats who are eating well, getting along well and loving their new home in the barn and their field. I want to feed them tree/shrub branches but am finding lots of conflicting information on what is safe and what isn't. I have just about come to grips with flowers etc and have been desperately reading my garden species identifier to tell the difference (BH is better than I am at this). Can anyone tell me what tree branches etc are definitely safe for my babies? We have all sorts of trees both in our garden and down at our mini loch at our disposal. many thanks.
melanie
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Our goats love oak leaves better than anything. The strong tannin in the leaves doesn't bother them. Also any fruit bushes/trees are a safe bet. Brambles have a lot of iron and vitamins and they love them too.
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As a general rule I keep off evergreens, which have chemicals in them to stop them being eaten by insects (and goats!)
I give mine ash in small quantities because it gives them the runs if too much. Also sycamore, which they love but which is quite sugary so causes bloat if too much.
My 'go-aheads' are hawthorn, rowan, hazel, willow, elder, alder.
We don't have oak at the altitude I live but I think it would be ok and am staying with friends in Virginia at the moment and she certainly feeds the local oak to her Nigerian Dwarfs.
Opps, cross posted with Yokel, looks like oak is fine :)
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Mine love hazel. willow, ash, sycamore and lime branches. They are also making determined inroads on any willow herb growing around the site.They would also happily eat the apple orchard ...but I'm not so keen! >:(
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Willow willow and more willow ;D followed by oak which I was told to be careful of when it had acorns not sure why :-\ mine also seem to like young blackthorn
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mine get;
hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, ash, elder, apple, pear, hazel, willow, polar leaves (i dont feed these but they blow in and they devour them!) rose prunings, brambles, raspberry. basically i'll feed any non evergreen, and anything without shiny leaves (except ivy and i cant stop em eating that even if i wanted too). they wont eat grass ::)
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Great thread - this has always worried me too, and so I might be a bit more adventurous now!
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Hi Melanie, most things have been said, mine love Hazel, Elm, Willow, Raspberry and Brambles, Ash, but not Elder (I think it's just they don't like it, rather than not being good for them), also get tons (and I mean tons) of willowherb, thistles, last year I cut and dried nettles for them (not enough time for it this year), they are also getting the odd leaves of horseradish (I have a rogue plant in the p/tunnel), comfrey and horse chestnut.
I have stopped giving mine Hawthorn or Blackthorn, but that is more for my convenience as the cuts to my hands were getting really bad..
They also eat chickweed, dandelion and "sticky willy", again both are growing in abundance in the p/tunnel and veg garden.
The odd branch of Ivy is also welcomed, just take any flowers/berries off before feeding - very good for mid-winter treat. (My sheep got loads of it last winter, and all did very well wiht lambing etc)
Dried leaves/branches of the Prunus family are not good as they develop Prussic acid, which is toxic. OK when fed fresh though (I don't have any cherry trees here). Alder not so good either, can't remember why.
Good to hear the girls are doing fine.
Anke.
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Just to add to this pleeease make sure they don't get hold of any laburnam it's totally deadly :(
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Snowberry hedging is poisonious too. Most dangerous I would say are Yew and rhodendren- don't let them get to these EVER.
Most of the usual have been listed above. Elm is the best value nutritionally, beech is fine for them too, but is poorest value nutritionally. That doesn't mean don't feed it, as a "feel good" treat it is still effective.
Mine like Sweet Chestnut too, but I don't have one now at this house. Most decidous trees are generally ok, and most evergreens are not.
Beth
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beech is fine for them too, but is poorest value nutritionally.
I found out the hard way that beech kills goats - so definitely not fine.
Trees/hedge our goats eat willow, ash, hazel, field maple, oak, hawthorn, blackthorn, dogrose, bramble, elder and when they get into the orchard then apple, pear and damson.
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Now the beech comment is interesting.... my goats regularly graze a huge beech hedge and have done so for 4 years and still alive.
My guess is something else was the reall trigger to your goats death, Hopewell.
There is an old saying 'if a goat wont eat ivy or bramble, then it is either dead or dying'. Don't know how far back that saying goes but there is an awful lot of truth in it.!!
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Be carefull with raspberry family as too much can cause abortion ( especially with women ).
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I found out the hard way that beech kills goats - so definitely not fine.
How did beech kill your goat Hopewell? I have never heard of this before. We lived at our old property for 36 years, where 4 extremely large beech trees hung over into the goats field. Our goats always ate those trees and never came to any harm. Oh and we did have goats there for the full 36 years as well!
Beth
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Our goats love oak leaves better than anything. The strong tannin in the leaves doesn't bother them. Also any fruit bushes/trees are a safe bet. Brambles have a lot of iron and vitamins and they love them too.
I discovered, quite by accident, that the boys are partial to oak. Luckily, we have a huge oak tree in the corner of the garden, so my OH chopped them off a branch today and popped it in their pen. They thought it was Christmas, and left the leaves (which were their favourites) and devoured the oak instead. They didnt go for the acorns though, just the leaves.
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The problem we had with feeding beech was about 14 years or more ago so the memory becomes hazy with the details. We definitely had one, possibly 2 fatalities and some poorly goats, although not all affected to the same degree. I know the goats were housed at the time and they had beech prunings from a garden in the village. It may have been copper beech which I understand is a variant on the normal beech rather than a different species. I did quite a bit of research at the time and was absolutely convinced that the beech was the issue, although I also hadn't expected it to be an issue. It is certainly possible to find reports of beech toxicity in cattle and horses and the thinking is the main poisonous agent is oxalates (same as rhubarb leaves). Beech is also known to contain small amounts of cyanide and saponins although probably not in large enough quantities to normally be an issue, as well as tanins. Some thoughts I have is that it may be that more ornamental varieties may differ in the amount of these toxins. The beech our goats may have been quite dry and old leaves which would increase the proportion of toxins. Sometimes different climatic conditions and different soil conditions can also affect toxin production in plants and beech is not common in naturally occurring woodland in our area. My last thought is that our goats at the time almost certainly only had hay/straw, some sort of commercial food, and the beech trimmings. They probably ate a large proportion of their diet on that day or two as beech, whereas if they have access to a hedge they may eat a bit and then move onto something else - in that sort of situation I have seen goats eat rhododendron and other plants that are indisputably poisonous and actually come to no home, as the poison is diluted by the other food they eat.
Certainly it's been interesting to hear other people's experience with beech, but we have avoided it ever since.
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Be carefull with raspberry family as too much can cause abortion ( especially with women ).
Thats why they tell you to drink raspberry leaf tea in labour it causes uterine contractions
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The boys munched away on acorns today, Ive only just read that they could be a problem. Does anyone have any info on this please? They really seemed to enjoy them, even Toby.
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Only pigs can eat acorns safely..... I would not let my goats near acorns.
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Okay Wytsend, thanks for that. Ill make sure that the acorns are taken off any branches they have from now on.
Mary.
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I'd like to thank everyone for adding to this thread - it has given me confidence to feed the girls branches for which they are very grateful, as am I x
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Our two girls have pretty much decimated our willow trees. They also have a passion for brambles and thistles.
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Hi
may I suggest a couple of websites? I have found them very useful when in doubt, (now I have them combined and printed outfor ready ref.) but I have to admit, my girls sometimes grab a bite of things they shouldn't, and OK so far, I suppose the odd nibble in a tummyful we may get away with. but I nearly lost a goat when she ate rhododendren branches a neighbour threw out, after a sleepless night and hefty vets bill we did survive.
fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm
http://kinne.net/poi-list.htm (http://kinne.net/poi-list.htm) (had to go to a cached page to re-find this one)
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Great thread! Can I just add a warning about wild privet, which we have a lot of around our house and we nearly lost 2 goats who ate it. Luckily they survived but it was close. It doesn't have the laburnam type shiny leaves so I hadn't given it a thought and it looks a bit like elder at first glance.
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We've got wild privet and one of the goats snatched a mouthful the other day on a walk. Fortunately she'd also been eating loads of other stuff so came to no harm. I can't cut the whole hedge down but can make sure they go past it without munching!
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Our two girls have merrily munched their way through the small willows that a previous owner had planted to try and drain the soggier parts of our land. They've pretty much stripped a small fir tree, too. They love eating thistles and brambles, too.
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No evergreen trees or bushes (esp Yew which can kill immediately and there is no antidote), lots of prickly stuff and fruit trees, willow and elder - must try oak, haven't tried that!
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Elder? that's as in tree that grows elderberries isn't it? off to pick a load today for wine and before I give the goats some branches, thought I better check!!
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Plumbseverywhere, Dont confuse elder, (elderflower wine etc) with Alder (bigger tree grows neer water and has small cones the size of acorns on it.
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Interesting bit about OAK
Acorns are poisonous to goats...BUT... oak leaves, particularly new shoots are very useful to scouring goats..... it is a natural astringent and will often stop scouring where over eating has been the cause.
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I found out recently that Acers (of the maple family are also poisonous) they are now common in gardens because of their brilliant foliage. Luckily we found out before we grazed a driveway verge that had been planted with twin rows of them (deciduos and no shiney leaf)
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Elder? that's as in tree that grows elderberries isn't it? off to pick a load today for wine and before I give the goats some branches, thought I better check!!
Mine refuse to eat elder branches - don't know why.
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I was told not to give much, if any, elder, either gives them scours or bungs em up can't remember which way ::)
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I've also been told not to give too much elder. A bit's fine.
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I'm sure I've read somewhere that some evergreens are OK for goats. The article (wish I could remember where I read it!) said that it was a good winter feed and helped control parasites. I had understood that fir trees can be slightly toxic - yew of course is deadly. After reading this article I picked up some branches blown down from a Scots pine and nervously threw them in for the goats. They ate it like it was chocolate! I waited to rush them to the vet but they were fine. I give them a bit now and then in winter as a change but I've stuck to Scots pine and never dared use any other one.
Has anyone else tried any other type?
And thankyou for suggesting ivy - I thought that was poisonous - and rose bay willow herb. I've tons of both!
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Ivy in small quantities seems to be ok - one or two strands.
My goats will eat a bit of pine too. Again, I suspect it's ok in small amounts. The things to avoid are things like laurel, rhododendron and so on.
My lazy husband who seems not to understand that gates have latches for a reason, allowed the goats into the beck garden yesterday. They've completely trashed the apple and the twisted Hazel. Fortunately they've left the evergreens alone (and I got there in time to prevent a goat kid jumping over the wall into the road) ::)
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I have one like that (husband who doesn't understand gates / livestock)
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I'm sure I've read somewhere that some evergreens are OK for goats. The article (wish I could remember where I read it!) said that it was a good winter feed and helped control parasites. I had understood that fir trees can be slightly toxic - yew of course is deadly. After reading this article I picked up some branches blown down from a Scots pine and nervously threw them in for the goats. They ate it like it was chocolate! I waited to rush them to the vet but they were fine. I give them a bit now and then in winter as a change but I've stuck to Scots pine and never dared use any other one.
Has anyone else tried any other type?
And thankyou for suggesting ivy - I thought that was poisonous - and rose bay willow herb. I've tons of both!
I think some evergreens in small quantities you can get away with. Certainly our goats have snatched mouthfuls of leylandii on the way past, and it has never done any harm. But personally, I would try and avoid them eating evergreens.
Beth
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Mine also eat all of the above, including beech and elder. Lime and chestnut (sweet and horse) are particular favourites and they are munching some ash at the moment.
:goat:
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I read somewhere that Xmas trees, after they have had their day in the house, are OK - we have given ours to both our goats and llamas, and they have been enjoyed!
Both prefer to eat the bark rather than the needles!
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Does anyone have experience of goats eating birch?
Also wild rose?
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Following on from above.
I am about to chop down several spruce trees. The branches are to go through a chipper. Could these chips be kept to supplement goats in winter or not?
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Birch and wild roses are fine :-) :tree:
Not sure about spruce. Mine liked scots pine.
Was surprised to read a previous comment about beech: if read it was fine and fed mine about 4 ton bags of dried beech leaves twigs and thrived.
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Following on from above.
I am about to chop down several spruce trees. The branches are to go through a chipper. Could these chips be kept to supplement goats in winter or not?
I wouldn't.
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Following on from above.
I am about to chop down several spruce trees. The branches are to go through a chipper. Could these chips be kept to supplement goats in winter or not?
I wouldn't.
Nor would I.