Will they chew wood?

[crazyfarm]

Still haven't bought my first goats, still prepping. So we got a lot of telephone poles for free. With them I'm going to cut them down for fence posts, build a few sheds and build a goat walk/play center. Will they chew them though? They are treated with everything under the sun.

[mygoat]

Goats really aren't wood chewers 'normally', at least not on fence posts...They'll nibble and mouth everything at least once though. We have treated wood posts everywhere with no problems. We don't have a playing area for our goats but if they spend time around/on it more, the more likely they'll nibble on it...

[marusempai]

Sundae (who is not known for her brains) has a spot in the loafing shed by the mineral tub that she likes to chew on. I've spent quite a lot of time observing quite a number of goats this year though, and she's the only wood chewer I've seen (and only that one spot - sometimes I think her mama must have dropped her ). So I would not worry about it. Even with Sundae's weird chewing habit, the amount of wood she's removing is extremely small.

[crazyfarm]

Thanks much! I won't worry overly much then. Now to go ask this same question in the pig and cow groups. lol

[msscamp]

I don't know about pigs, but cows don't normally chew wood.

[GoatGirl123]

They'll eat bark off of trees sometimes, and if you give them a stump to jump on they'll eat the bark off that. Haven't heard of them eating the actual wood though.

[Bubbas Boys]

I can tell you they will chew on the edge of OSB board.

[BethW]

My goats don't pay attention to the treated wood posts, but they do chew on the oak fence boards and on the barn, which is also oak. Not a ton of chewing, but there are definitely edges that they'll nibble at.