[melodrama]

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

[local yokel]

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.

[jaykay]

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 

[katie]

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!

[Hatty]

Willow willow and more willow  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

[colliewoman]

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

[llamakevin]

Great thread - this has always worried me too, and so I might be a bit more adventurous now!

[Anke]

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.

[Beewyched]

Just to add to this pleeease make sure they don't get hold of any laburnam it's totally deadly 

[ballingall]

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

[Hopewell]

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.

[wytsend]

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.!!

[tizaala]

Be carefull with raspberry family as too much can cause abortion ( especially with women ).

[ballingall]

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

[NormandyMary]

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.