Goats Are Not Eating Pasture This Summer ??

[Helena]

This sounds totally stupid I know !! Our does and kids..8 total have full access to about 1/2 acres of pasture. I grain them and also give them hay at night when they come into the barn. All the summers that have passed have never had the grass high...this year it must be 3 feet high !! Most of the goats are the same animals I have had in years gone by. I even stopped giving them hay at night...but feel sorry for the little ones..and I'm sure they will drop dead of starvation over night if I didn't. Are they just..barn sour spoiled rotten goats ?? Even the bucks when put out at night alone..don't eat the grass !! Anyone have any ideas for me !!??

[Jen H]

It sounds like they're just not hungry.

You might try mowing the pasture fairly high to expose the juicier stuff toward the ground, that might get their interest. I run the brush hog around and just knock off the flower heads on my pastures - just that's enough to make the manipulative buggers think the pasture's the best thing since sunflower seeds.

[LittleJohn]

Goats wont eat grass unless thier realy hungry they prefer woody plants, some select weeds and clovers. If you have mostly grass you might look into cows

[livestockmom]

I agree... we mow our pastures! Little buggers don't touch the grass!

[Ellie5]

Hi all,

Apparently I have some strange goats. Mine eat grass like it's going out of style. I have one area with some woody shrubs, which they enjoy also, but it's mostly grass (horses originally). It is short, but very green even this time of year. If mine suddenly stopped eating my grass, I would wonder about the grass (perhaps something is on it or a poisonous weed overtook the pasture?).

Is this something learned from their mom & take a cue from the rest of the herd or herd queen? I have 6 goats, all unrelated.

[mary,tx]

Mine also eat grass, although certainly there is nothing they like better than fruit trees.
I like the idea of cutting the grass, high.

[mygoat]

my 2 pygmy does have a large pasture and i swear that they have never touched thier grass..... they have little pathways woven around the place, and keep our apple trees trimmed for us. the grass is around 3' high, and most of the time i can hardly see my goats! i think they get bored of eating grass, tho, just like they get sick of the fallen apples in the fall. they wont touch apples then, but in the summer or winter they attack me if i have an apple.

[bill not in oh]

We're fairly new to goats - had a two pygmies for a couple of years (appropriately nicknamed "the littlest lawnmowers"...) and a saanan doeling that's a recent addition. They all three will eat grass and browse the trees/bushes but one thing I have noticed is that when I mow the grass, they will mostly eat grass for 3-4 days. This reinforces what one of our vets (his wife has a herd of boers) told me. Cut your pasture to 4" regularly if it's mostly grass - goats prefer tender, new growth for grasses. They'll eat broadleaf 'weeds' at about any stage, but really want the new growth when it comes to grasses, especially grasses that get thick and tough as they grow taller (like timothy). I planted a half acre that the 2004 pigs cleared nicely for me in 1/2 timothy and 1/4 each ladino clover and alfalfa. Had to fence it off to keep them from mowing the tender young plants to the ground! Now it's up to about 3 inches and I'm going to open it back up and see what happens - think I've got a pretty good idea!