goats are tree killers?

[Lizza]

My goats are stripping all the bark off of the trees they have in their field. Is this normal? Do you think they have some sort of vitamin deficency?

I never realized that goats would/could kill the trees.

[mary,tx]

How large are the trees? Goats will assuredly strip the leaves from trees, and will kill smaller ones this way. If they are actually stripping bark, I would guess that something else is going on. Are you giving them minerals? Do they have plenty of graze/browse and/or hay?
If these are trees you do not want to lose, you'd best get the goats moved if they are stripping bark or if the trees are small.
mary

[lacesout]

Yes. Goats are tree killers. Also bush, flower and vegetable killers. Yummm...

[Jen H]

Goats like wood, very simply. They love bushes and trees. They'll eat twigs and strip bark along with munching on leaves. Right now, the sap is running in the layer of wood directly under the bark - it's sweet and yummy. I'll bet that's what the goats are after.

[Lizza]

Oh, of course, I forgot with the spring comes the sap is running.

They have a large field, we have a goat mineral block that we put out there for them (under shelter), plus we give them free range alfalfa, and grain everyday.

I guess they just like those trees! We'll have to move them away from the ones we really want to keep.

[Oxankle]

I have a small cluster of pines, big trees, behind my house. When I had goats I came out one morning to find that a goat had eaten the bark off, and stripped the tree down to solid wood, about halfway round the tree. Not long after I got rid of the goats, 6 or 7 years ago. The pine is still trying to heal that wound.
Ox

[mygoat]

Goats love to eat and kill trees. We have an apple tree that is missing most of it's bark in "pygmy goat destruction range", lol. They even went into the climbable tree to kill it. Also, none of my orchard trees have leaves within the deadly range, either.