The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Daisys Mum on June 10, 2016, 08:30:46 pm
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I desperately need to do something about the weeds in my fields but my three Pygmy goats free range, they go under gates and over stiles so up till now I have just chopped them down but now it's just too hard, is there anything that I can use that would be okay. We used to use grazon before goats! :goat: :goat: :goat:
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Not that I know of. At least not without taking the goats off for a while. We will be mowing our thistles tomorrow!
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Glyphosate (roundup) is generally safe with animals avoiding it - it's supposed to be pet-safe for this reason if I remember rightly - and sheep & cattle do seem to leave it alone. Don't know about goats though.
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I know that when we chop down docks and nettles they seem to like them when they have wilted, my worry was that they would want to eat the dying weeds. I can keep them away from them for a while but not sure how long would be safest.
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Talking to a contractor quite a few years ago, he told me that glyphosphate turns starches to sugars, so making otherise unpalatable plants very appealing and the recommended 2 weeks before introducing stock was to allow plants like ragwort to get so wilted as to be unattractive so they weren't eaten. Theoretically, then, it shouldn't actually harm the goats if it is something they'd eat anyway if it was wilted.
Please check on this before taking my word for it though!!
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I think you need a certificate if you want to spray your fields Now? Ridiculous on a small scale, can understand it on large scale overuse.
I spot treat with weedkiller that takes broad leaved and rushes, i think (without going and looking), it's safe once dried, or maybe 24hrs.
Ragwort I would pull out and remove.
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Grazon has 1 week withdrawal time. When I've used it sheep have been fine after this. Agree with warning re ragwort, my understanding is it becomes palatable as it dies but is still highly poisonous so may be best to pull it. Also of course anyone without necessary pa license is now breaking law if they spray all bar chemicals bought in garden centre ( covered in detail on lots of other threads on here)
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Which weeds precisely are you needing to get rid of? Ragwort, for best results, really needs to be pulled by hand. If you kill it with weed killer, or cut it, then you are still best advised to go round and pick it up afterwards. Have a ragwort party, all welcome :celebrate:. We rarely see ragwort here now, just the odd plant blown in on the breeze from the road verges.
Our sheep eat every other weed I can think of, even dockens, spear and creeping thistle, buttercups, and I would have thought they were ok for goats too (but I don't keep goats so don't take my word for it).
In fact we dig out all spear thistles, and mow creeping thistle, either with a topper or the lawn mower, which keeps them in check.
We have just finished digging spear thistle and had filled barely one wheelbarrowful this year, compared to trailerloads a few years ago. Now it's the turn of dockens, which are having the stem scythed off to prevent them seeding, then they will be mown and made with the hay. We will try to dig them out after the hay's in, as it's only one field. I say 'we' but it's not me as I can't turn over soft earth now, let alone dig out deeprooted plants.
I wouldn't use weedkiller of any sort on my land, but then I follow organic principles, unless it's meds for livestock.