Sericea Lespedeza

[christij]

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/..._lespedeza.pdf

I was poking around reading sheep and goat articles and had not heard this about lespedeza, thus I thought I would share.

[Alice In TX/MO]

We have lespadeza in our pasture in Missouri. The goats do like it.

If you are cutting it for hay, you have to cut it young. It gets coarse quickly.

Looks like a weed anyway. LOL

[Scrounger]

While goats will eat this plant in it's younger stages, I would advise you to contact your local Extension Agent or Noxious weed Officer. Missouri is having a rough time with this plant (as is Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and other states....). It is HUGELY invasive and will choke out anything else in the field. You, being in Missouri, may find that it is illegal to plant this species. It will not only kill other plants, it leaves tannins in the soil, making it hard for anything else to grow IF you get it irradicated - which is not likely. There are other species of Lespedeza that are better then Sericea.