[gingercloverbramble]

My son is very keen to get pygmy goats.  Being a scottish west coast hill farm we have more than our fair share of bracken! We are currently trying to sort out a paddock area for his future goats and our orphaned lambs.  DOes anyone have any advice about the presence of bracken?  Will it be problematic for goats?  If so, will strimming it right back regularly suffice?! Many thanks!

[little blue]

I understand bracken can be toxic,  this is from the website linked below...

     "Bracken fern is very common in wooded areas and  unimproved
     pastures. Most animals will not eat  bracken fern if there is adequate
     pasture or other  feed. In ruminants, such as goats, bracken fern  must
     be consumed over a period of several weeks  before toxicity signs
     develop. Affected animals are  listless, show weight loss and may
     exhibit small  hemorrhages on the mucous membranes. They may  die from
     internal hemorrhages. "

http://netvet.wustl.edu/species/goats/goatpois.txt

[Anke]

As far as I know bracken is indeed poisonous, but also very difficult to eradicate. I am not sure if regular strimming would help, as it will keep coming back all the time? Especially if there is not much else for goats/sheep to eat, bracken will be eaten! Not sure what to do though - what do people do with their sheep?

[Hellybee]

Weve got it on a bank that is impossible to do mechanically ,  sos we been told to get the sheep to go back and forth across it when it  is at the point tht it will snap rather than bend.  Hopefully we will have the national park rangers to help with another area of it lower down the farm , they have some sort of machine ? 

[gingercloverbramble]

Thanks for the help re: bracken.  Now I'm wondering about buttercups.....and rushes?!!

[ballingall]

Buttercups aren't very good either, but they taste very bitter so generally the goats will avoid them because they do not taste nice. You can put lime on your field to get keep them under control. We have buttercups in our field (bad area for them) and no problems with that. What kind of rushes are they? I think most rushes are ok, I know someone who goats graze the rushes in an ajoining canal to their field to no ill effects.

We live in an area which has lots of marsh grass, and the goats love this. We no longer have marsh grass in our field, because the goats like it so much they have eaten it all out! Again, no ill effect.

Regarding the bracken, we had friend that kept cashmere goats on a hill farm which had quite a lot of bracken, and they had no ill effects, but then their was plenty of other grazing as well.



Beth