What trees do goats like?

silverseeds · #1 06/12/12, 06:39 PM

Im curious what trees goats like or dont like. My ponderosa pines with nice long needles apparently are very tasty to them. They also love the oaks. They freely choose to eat both of these. The short needled pinon pine is barely grazed and the same goes for junipers. If I put a branch of either of those in their pen, it might be a week before someone ate it.

Coppicing trees for branches/leaves with a fast growing species like honey locust can be very productive. Do they like those? Other berries or fruits trees when I prune them?

are there any dangerous trees for them?? any trees I might plant just for them?

It would take awhile for it to all grow in, but Id love to have a good range of trees for them one day. I believe I saw a video on honey locust with goats happily eating them. that would probably be a good one.

Alice In TX/MO · #2 06/12/12, 06:52 PM

Fias Co Farm: Goats- Edible & Poisonous for Goats

bwanaswan · #3 06/12/12, 07:06 PM

Alice is so fast at the switch and correct. I hope I never have to go against her on Jeopardy.

I can only add that in our area (Iowa) chokecherry leaves (wilted especially) are bad and sometimes deadly. I have a ton of poison hemlock on our property or did and I worried terrible over it until the goats ate it all to make me stop worrying. Bless their hearts they never got sick and loved every bite.

Minelson · #4 06/12/12, 07:14 PM

I know that they love fruit trees! Apple trees in particular...

Pony · #5 06/12/12, 07:19 PM

Around here, the only tree the goats like is MORE!!!!

BTW, in addition to the hemlock, the goats also love poison ivy and poison oak.

Oak trees and sassafras are their real favorites, though.

kasilofhome · #6 06/12/12, 08:11 PM

Easy, If you like a tree they do too----------------just in a different way

Minelson · #7 06/12/12, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kasilofhome

Easy, If you like a tree they do too----------------just in a different way

If you want them to eat it they won't...If you don't want them to eat it they will. So you have to pretend you want them to eat stuff you don't want them to eat. And shoo them away from the stuff you want them to eat.

gunsmithgirl · #8 06/12/12, 08:26 PM

My goats go nuts for swamp willow. We call it goat candy here.

Alice In TX/MO · #9 06/12/12, 08:31 PM

You know those college bowl type contests? There was one in Victoria, Texas, years ago, and four of the teachers at my school competed. We had the counselor, a science teacher, me, and another English teacher who was also a musician and a Mensa member. We lost to the team of college professors by ONE point. It was a lot of fun.

Back to goats and trees....
Be careful of WILTED fruit tree leaves. The trees that have pits.... cherry, peach, etc. have leaves that make a toxin as they wilt. If they are brown and dry, they aren't toxic any more. It's just in between green and dry that there's a problem.

powell7311 · #10 06/12/12, 09:12 PM

Ours love Sugar Maple leaves, we refer to them as "Tree Stars", quoted from the older kids movies "Land Before Time"

Ranger · #11 06/12/12, 10:17 PM

I was kind of trying to figure out what trees goats DON'T like!!!

Ruby · #12 06/13/12, 07:22 AM

Crypt Myrtle, ours will run you doen to get to the trimmings from them. They also like oak and some kind of tree that had huge thorns. They are not mesquite, I think my son said they were black locus or something like that, but the thorns are a good 1 1/2 inches long.

colemangirly · #13 06/13/12, 07:32 AM

OUrs absolutely LOVE dogwood, they will eat it before anything else in the pasture, they will eat the leaves and strip the bark off any smaller trees.

southerngurl · #14 06/13/12, 08:34 AM

They like the green kind- and other colors too...

Poison Hemlock is not a tree, it's a plant that looks a lot like wild carrot. It is extremely poisonous to livestock of all sorts and humans, even a small amount.

Hemlock tree is a different plant.

Suzyq2u · #15 06/13/12, 09:14 AM

LOL, they like the green kind here too, add in some brown, like goat tater chips, lol.
Not so picky at our house! Though they will eat one cedar about 6 ft up, but not the one next to it -- who knows with goats, lol

nathan104 · #16 06/13/12, 09:35 AM

they like the ones they can reach.

where I want to · #17 06/13/12, 10:38 AM

Here they will debark the smaller redwoods and any branches they can reach but leave the big one's bark alone. They eat alder, willow, hemlock (tree not shrub) and everything else that I know grows in the wild. They will eat Rhodies too but that makes them sick.
Goats are remarkable tough in some ways and so fragile in others.

silverseeds · #18 06/13/12, 12:11 PM

Thanks everyone!!! that helps a lot.

No one mentioned honey locust specifically, and it wasnt on alices list. I looked it up, and apparently they love that one as well, and eat the pods they produce. Its supposed to be high in protein as well.

mary,tx · #19 06/13/12, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

.
Back to goats and trees....
Be careful of WILTED fruit tree leaves. The trees that have pits.... cherry, peach, etc. have leaves that make a toxin as they wilt. If they are brown and dry, they aren't toxic any more. It's just in between green and dry that there's a problem.

This might be a little off topic, but yesterday I was thinning little peaches off the trees and throwing them over the fence towards the goats. My old goat started eating them and just about choked to death. She coughed, literally, until she was foaming at the mouth. I was afraid it would be the death of her.

CarolT · #20 06/13/12, 06:48 PM

When I found my pawpaw trees everything I could find to read about pawpaws said goats and deer won't eat the leaves or bark... My problem? My goats don't read!

ETA I am terrible allergic to poison oak, ivy etc. Was so glad to read goats ate it and should keep it wiped out... My problem? My goats didn't read that either! <boohoo>