Goat Berries

[EatChevre]

What do you do with all of your goat berries?

I have a dirt floor in my barn. Every day I sweep up (along with some dirt) the goat poops (I have four goats) and take them to a corner of my yard where no one ever goes.

I have heard that you can use the berries as fertilizer. Do they need to be prepared in some way before putting them in your garden? Or can they be used "as is"?

Can they be "composted" with the straw/hay that I'm dumping in a pile every week?

I just don't know what to do with all of that stuff I'm hauling out of the barn daily and weekly.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeanne

[christij]

I have a goat berry question too... when you are cleaning in the stall/barns where there is bedding what do you use to pick up the berries? I am currently using a dog pooper scooper rake but it doesn't work so well on getting the hard wet bedding!

Jeanne -- I put the berries in the compost pile. I have read that it can go directly into the garden without causing any burning but DH who is in charge of the garden won't let me.

CJ

[EatChevre]

I use one of those really wide brooms to make piles of berries; then I sweep them up with a regular straw broom and an industrial-sized metal dust pan. Works great for me (except for all of the dirt that I pick up with the berries). Only takes five minutes. I don't understand how people use the rake...? The berries under the straw stays under the straw until I muck out (once every one to two weeks).

[christij]

When you muck out are you removing all the bedding? I have only had my two for a month and am still trying to figure out how I want to go about things. I currently have them on pine shavings but plan on moving to straw in the near future.

[trob1]

Goat berries are not hot and can be put straight in the garden or on shrubs and trees. I also have a packed dirt floor and sweep every morning with straw broom and dust pan. I then scatter it in the garden. I don't put down straw and they have sleeping benches to sleep on.

[Jillis]

You can put them right on the garden, or you can compost them if you wish. I have done both. Years ago, the first person I knew how had goats put some "nanny berries" right onto the ground around her rose bushes to perk them up. It worked! So that's how I knew you could do that. I've read since that you can put it right on your garden w/o it burning the plants. I do like to compost first though. Just habit, and I don't like excrement near my food plants in a recognizable form.

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by Jillis

I don't like excrement near my food plants in a recognizable form.

We just stop calling them nanny berries and start referring to them as "timed release fertilizer tablets" when they are in with the vegetables.

Lynda

[Spinner]

Yes, they are excellent for the garden, I even put a few on my house plants (when they are outside) My goats spend most of the day out in the pastures so I don't get many berries for the garden, but my pasture is reeping the benefits.