The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: FiB on October 24, 2012, 10:38:59 am
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should I worry/remove? We've had the power company doing a load of tree surgery this week (about a winters worth of oak sycamore and hazel felled ;D ;D ;D ) I'd struggle to process it more quickly than I am, but interested to know more - are leaves as nutritious for them as grass, do they self regulate ? I know that are happy to graze on hedgrow bits and bobs- but they are going mad nibbling the leaves off the felled trees so I'm crossing my finger thats OK. I could move them to a different field but its had someone elses sheep on it so is in quarentine period... so wouldnt want to do that unless strictly necessary. Daft question of the day over! Cheers Fi
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:wave: FiB
Don't know for certain. Someone wise will be along soon, but just from observation, mine eat lots of hedgerow stuff and when we had to do some cutting back a few weeks ago they gobbled everything as we were cutting. There wasn't much oak in it but lots of hazel and so on. We were a bit worried but they are still here ;D . Maybe if they are hungry/ grass is poor they might take more than is good for them but otherwise they seem to self regulate ..... in my limited experience.
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Thanks - glad to know I'm not alone in thinking these thoughts ( I nearly deleted post straight after writing)! They are on aftermath - only moved them at the weekend, so shouldnt be desparate. The leaves must be tasty. Or maybe they are just easy! They dont seem any the worse for a solid day of leaf scoffing :fc:
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They should be fine, but I wouldn't let them eat vast quantities of the oak leaves, especially if they are still green. Make sure they are eating plenty of something else too.
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Not a daft question at all...
Mine went crazy for pine needles last Xmas as our neighbour (they are in his field) felled a couple if his trees to take tops for Xmas trees.... they gobbled the lot wihtin a day. I was sick with worry... but they are all still around. So much so, that after said neighbour dumped his Xmas tree in his garden, just wihtin reach through the fence one ewe got badly stuck and we had to cut the fence to get her out... but she did get most of the tree all to herself!
As said I think the only thing to maybe take out is excess oak branches. I would leave the other ones in and they will also take the bark off for you!
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Not sure about the leaves but I do know that acorns are poisonous so make sure they don't get the munchies for those!
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Well, with goats:
Oak is fine if not too much at once, the leaves have high tannin levels which can give them stomach ache and constipation. Too much ash causes scouring and too much sycamore can cause bloat (as sugary), all are fine in smallish quantities. No evergreens though the odd strand of ivy is fine.
Ok on hawthorn, rowan, beech, birch, willow.
Avoid the seeds and berries of all of them.
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Further to jaykay's post - watch out for acorns too. I don't think it's that they are poisonous but that they are round so stick in the rumen and don't get broken down. They can apparently block the animals insides. I haven't seen this myself (we don't have any oaks big enough to have acorns :D ) but I have heard reports.
They are probably stocking up on minerals and vitamins from the bark, ready for winter. As said above, don't let them have too much oak.
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:o :o :o I've seen mine eat acorns. Huge tree in the paddock and impossible really to keep them away from without losing most of the grazing. Not sure what I can do? ???
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Glad you said that ITH - I had just started worrying proper as, without moving them, there is no way i can limit them - they have a smorgersboard of 3 felled mature oak trees (inc acorns) at their disposal.... but then I started thinking - untill last year the sheep had the run of that woodland anyway - so they must have some sort of self regulation wrt acorns (they didnt have such access to the leaves as they do now though). They do seem to have lost a bit of interest now (proabbly got indigestion?) just have to keep an extra close eye out over next few days..... Thanks all, Fxx
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I would assume that acorns are only a problem if the sheep don't crunch them up before swallowing them. In the report I heard, sheep were wasting away from apparent starvation but on opening them up they were full of undigested acorns, so there was no room for food. BUT lots of people have sheep which appear to come to no harm from eating acorns. So just keep an eye on them.
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I read that all parts of the oak are poisonous in any quantity to horses. And sadly for those of us with lovely old oaks in our paddocks... it is also addictive.
However, we've had natve ponies out under oak trees for part of the year for years and years and never seen any problem.
I'd guess that there could be some problem with sheep eating oak to excess (in addition to the indegestible acorns as outlined by Fleecewife) - but as with a little bit of ivy sometimes being a tonic to a ruminant, hopefully they do know when to stop.
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From things that i've read, if the animal is local and has grown up in the presence of your oak trees, then they know they are there when they want them and thus don't gorge on them. But if you bring in an animal that has never eaten it, then it will gorge on it and is therefore most likely to suffer.
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From things that i've read, if the animal is local and has grown up in the presence of your oak trees, then they know they are there when they want them and thus don't gorge on them. But if you bring in an animal that has never eaten it, then it will gorge on it and is therefore most likely to suffer.
Good point
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Dry some foliage whilst you have the chance and store it, oak leaves are a marvelous remedy for scours brought about by too much lush eating ;) ;)
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Excessive ingestion of oak leaves can kill your sheep. A tup we sold to someone a few years back gorged on them and then died.
Still, you often find that they only eat these things if they are available in a strange environment, so you may be OK - just keep an eye on it.
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Ok on hawthorn, rowan, beech, birch, willow.
Avoid the seeds and berries of all of them.
Interested in your comment re. goats here Jaykay. Does the same apply to sheep with hawthorn berries? I've moved mine to the bottom field which has a hedgerow of hawthorn, crab apple and blackthorn, to give them shelter over winter. They're showing no interest in the fallen apples, but I'm wondering whether the hawthorn berries are poisonous? They won't get any of the sloes cos I'm having them for sloe gin!
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Hi Blackbird, it was a general comment since acorns, ash keys, alder catkins etc. in too large quantities can all be a problem (I think they concentrate chemicals in them, certainly for example when you're trying to use tannin to fix dyes you're advised to use the alder catkins rather than the leaves if possible).
But as far as I know, hawthorn berries are not a problem and I don't think either that sheep or goats would eat very many of them. My goats decimate my hawthorns for leaves but leave the berries mainly alone.
Most field hedges are largely hawthorn and sheep don't seem to have problem.