The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: maddy on November 13, 2012, 07:53:33 am
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Hi my girls love any branches, hedging etc which I religiously cut each day for them but what do you all do now the leaves are disappearing? I have tried drying nettles but they won't eat that.
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Our lot love dried nettles
We cut them in the summer when they are high then hang them in bunches under cover but with plenty of air flow to prevent them from going mouldy
We then hang them up in the goat shed and donkey stable and they all love them
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I cut and dried willow and nettles this year - so far no refusals
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They will still peel/gnaw the bark off, and crunch thinner branches, like willow. Other than that it's down to brambles here, the odd little branch of ivy, but also apples, (pony)carrots, bananas.
I have dried nettles and willowherb in the past, but it has been so wet this year that there was no point to try and dry anything in the polytunnel...
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After identifying the owners of the relevant land, I have been collecting the waste from coppicing (which will otherwise be burned) and my goats enjoy stripping the bark - I think of it as part food/part occupational therapy.
Later I will collect prunings from local apple orchards and they will strip every millimetre of bark as well as crunching the ends of twigs. When they have finished we cut the bits up for kindling the following year, it works well and smells lovely. I also collect windfalls where possible, with permission, to add to their supper. Bramleys keep well for ages.
There are still some nettles around here and I am cutting brambles - the biggest drawback is getting rid of the 'skeletons' as a huge pile soon builds up and I don't have much bonfire space. I suspect if I return the bits to the locations where I cut the brambles I'll get arrested for fly-tipping! If I find willow they get that as well but I have trimmed most overhanging branches back from all surrounding lanes by now... Wish I had an acre of woodland!
I also give them carrots which they only eat if finely sliced lengthways and any banana skins or over-ripe bananas.
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Mine won't eat nettles either although, tbh, I haven't tried with these goats. It was just the first one who didn't like them. Mine love pony carrots and I used to be able to buy sacks of swede for £3.75 which they enjoyed. I keep all vegetable trimmings, my friends save things like banana skins and fruit peel, and our local shop gives us the veg that have started going off - not so many this time of year as it's colder and stuff keeps longer. Didn't get any windfalls this year but other years I have had loads. You have to be careful not to give too many though as it can taint the milk.
I need to get someone to cut down some buddleia branches for them to strip as these are popular. There is a flowering cherry tree next to the goat yard and the other day when it was windy, Cloud spent a happy time chasing and eating the leaves as they blew down. I spent a happy time watching her.
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willow by name..willow by nature :fc: as im planting 6 williw trees in the garden :goat: :roflanim:
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Better keep her away from them then. ;D
Incidentally, would Willow eating willow be regarded as cannibalism? :roflanim:
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Didn't manage any nettle hay this year either, due to the lack of summer ::)
Like the others, I still cut branches cos they love the bark. And I feed mine ReadiGrass in winter (Just Grass is another brand) which is freeze dried grass, very different from hay which they get anyway. They do seem to like the ReadiGrass, you buy it in wrapped bales from country store type places where it's sold for horses. Mine get half a small bucketful a day.
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Better keep her away from them then. ;D
Incidentally, would Willow eating willow be regarded as cannibalism? :roflanim:
:roflanim: very good MGM.. That's why I'm growing them..for food any the wood burner..I'll get self sufficient one day..maybe when I retire, only 25ish years to go :relief: :roflanim:
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Something to look forward to then, Carl.
Mine have a bucketful of Just Grass between three of them. They love it.
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willow by name..willow by nature :fc: as im planting 6 williw trees in the garden :goat: :roflanim:
FAB!!! when you prune them, save some of the prunings and poke them in the ground. Willow cuttings are the easiest thing to grow you will have increased you willow patch enormously by the end of summer! :thumbsup:
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Will do CW that's where they are coming from..a friends cuttings.. I'll have to start making baskets aswell :roflanim:
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Just been clearing some ivy so they're getting that and will be chopping some elder at the weekend and it's good for bark munching. As a wee treat my girlies like dried apricots and hobnobs (not the chocolatey kind) - after all they are compressed husks aren't they? :D
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I need to get someone to cut down some buddleia branches for them to strip as these are popular. There is a flowering cherry tree next to the goat yard and the other day when it was windy, Cloud spent a happy time chasing and eating the leaves as they blew down. I spent a happy time watching her.
Can anyone confirm buddleia branches are OK? (sorry MGM, just want to be sure) a goatkeeper advised me against them when I specifically asked about them.
carefully of too many cherry leaves, if wilted they are poisonous. not sure about autumn fallen ones?
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That's ok, best to be on the safe side but mine have eaten buddleia for years. TBH it's never been a favourite thou.