# Strategies for keeping the goats away from your good plants



## savingdogs

Well we have a great little goat pen and enclosure but need to let our goats out to free range a large area that we need grazed down in order to access. While most everything that is landscaped is fenced off from them, some areas were landscaped with perrenials and border flowers by the prior owner and we planted an orchard. 

Yes, I realize the orchard + goats equals a dumb choice on our part, but the orchard is already toast. 

They also ate a whole ROW of peonies ready to bloom and I'm not sure if I have a place to transplant them to. I mean the bottom half of the plants. I wish I could contrive some way of keeping the goats off the area without using a five foot chain link in front of a flower border. I also have chickens I'd like to keep off the area as well. 

Or should I just give up and move all the plants? I do need to plant something there to hold up the hillside, so if I wanted something as a house "foundation" planting that goats did not enjoy, what should I choose? 
Or is there any low fencing that keeps goats away or at least slows them down?

Any suggestions that work for you would be great. But so far the goats in the garden have not been very good for it!


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## Mea

savingdogs said:
			
		

> Well we have a great little goat pen and enclosure but need to let our goats out to free range a large area that we need grazed down in order to access. While most everything that is landscaped is fenced off from them, some areas were landscaped with perrenials and border flowers by the prior owner and we planted an orchard.
> 
> Yes, I realize the orchard + goats equals a dumb choice on our part, but the orchard is already toast.
> 
> !


This might help if they have not completely destroyed Your fruit trees....
      We used to "paint" the trunks with Pig manure.      Sounds gross doesn't it ?!  but that is the idea.   We had a few trees in the goat field that we did not want destroyed .  We mixed the manure with a bit of water, enough to allow it to be put on with a brush, and painted as high as we could reach on the trees.  One coat would last about three months ...even in rain.      Dainty, picky, finicky goaties would not Dream of touching that nasty stuff !!!           Actually once it dried on... there was no oder we could sense.

  As far as protecting Your other plants... i can only think of electic netting that can be moved...and that has it's own issues.

  Never knew that they would eat peonies !  Learned something today.

  Good luck.  Goats ... when on a Food Mission are very effective at clearing our most prized plants !!


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## savingdogs

I can attest they most especially like just the flower heads, ready to pop open and bloom and the top half of the plant that will probably form next year's flower. Grrrr................


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## freemotion

Give it up.  Move the plants.  Goats know exactly what the value of each plant is and they have expensive taste!


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## savingdogs

I was afraid of that.......


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## Ashmeade

My goats do not allow me to have plants or pretty landscaping.


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## chandasue

I put "hoops" made of 4' welded wire fencing encircling each of my fruit trees staked with a T-post. Not pretty but it works and it's not thick wire so it's not so obvious... I have sort of the same set up where they have a run but I let them out to browse a few hours everyday, supervised so if they do get a notion about getting past the fence around my fruit trees I can stop it, but they've never even tried. If you don't want to put up fence then forget about having a garden of any sort...


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## savingdogs

Well I do have fence but these particular plants are on the wrong SIDE of it. I guess I have to get out my shovel........

I don't suppose anyone knows how to save a living apple tree whose bark has all been peeled off? I know it is just a matter of time.......


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## Ariel301

Fence the goats away from the plants with tall escape proof fencing. We've got 7 foot high chain link pens for the goats here, and it keeps them in fairly well. But we also have to have a second fence around any plants we want to keep, because the wildlife will eat them.


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## Aped

I'm no help here. I just gave up and don't let them out of their pen now. It was great when I got them last year and they would run aorund eating all the weeds and perhaps most of the roses. But I've tamed my yard a bit more since them and planted stuff iI don't want to eat. 

I don't have much space and even planted them a tiny pasture which is a mixture of alfalfa, pasture mix and weeds. They liked it for about an hour then they got tired of it because goats love to eat and walk even if there can fill their tummies without moving an inch. 

I think I'll start letting them out of the pen again in late fall when I don't care what gets eaten cause it's going to die ove the winter anyway. 

I also did a not smart thing and planted 2 apple trees. I knew the goats would be all over them so. I put a fence around them that is about 3 feet away from the trunk. One tree has all the growth at the top and is untouched and doing  great, the other came to me branched and the goats could reach all the bottom leaves. Hopefully the top survives through the winter.


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## The Egg Bandit

My goats have eaten all my lillies, my hibiscus, marigolds and daisies, and are presently trying to kill my plum tree.  I guess the bark must be as sweet as the fruit.  But since they also mow the lawn and give me lots of milk, I try very hard not to complain.  But I do love those plums.  

If I put up a fence around the tree, then I have to buy a lawn mower.  

I am thinking about getting some pigs, so I suspect I'll try the previously posted pork poo painting procedure for protecting my precious plums.  If nothing else, at least the tree will get fertilizer!


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## Mea

The Egg Bandit said:
			
		

> I am thinking about getting some pigs, so I suspect I'll try the previously posted pork poo painting procedure for protecting my precious plums.  If nothing else, at least the tree will get fertilizer!


If You don't have piggy poo... any kind of manure would do.      At the time we had the pig and i wanted something Really gross to keep the goats back.   It worked better than i ever dreamed it would !


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## glenolam

Aped said:
			
		

> I also did a not smart thing and planted 2 apple trees. I knew the goats would be all over them so. I put a fence around them that is about 3 feet away from the trunk. One tree has all the growth at the top and is untouched and doing  great, the other came to me branched and the goats could reach all the bottom leaves. Hopefully the top survives through the winter.


We planted 6 apple trees in our yard, far away from the goats, about three years ago.  Last year (when I only had 2 goats!) they got out and spent THE ENTIRE DAY in the yard unsupervised while we were at work... 

Gone were my strawberries, spring flowers, butterly bushes, apple trees - you name it, it was gone.  I was heartbroken  - got an electric fence because I was so angry... 

BUT - everything grew back more full and healthier this year so they actually did me a favor!  And now no one dares to attempt escaping!


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## cmjust0

Be careful of the plum trees...some say the wilted leaves are as poisonous as chokecherry, but some say otherwise.  I don't know..  I haven't been able to find anything out for sure.

We have a young plum tree about 15' from the goats' fenceline, and it worries us..  We're strongly considering moving it just in case a branch breaks off and blows over there or something.


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## Hykue

If I can find it, I read on a gardening forum for how to graft on a piece of bark to "bridge" the gap from live bark at the bottom to live bark at the top.  It was suggested for trees that had been ringed by rodents, not by goats, so it might not work, but if by some miracle they only ate a section about 3 or 4 inches tall all the way around, you could use it.  I'll see if I can find it.

Okay, I found it.  Note that you only want to use this if the tree is girdled completely - if there is one part that has bark all the way up, it's best to leave it alone and hope it can heal by itself.  If it is girdled, this site will tell you how to bridge it (it's called bridge grafting, clever, no?).

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Ipm/homegrnd/htms/28graft.htm 

I hope you don't ever need this information (I hope I don't, too), but if you do, here it is.

Maybe I should put up fencing around my apple trees right now . . . or instead I could assume that the goats won't escape . . . hmm.


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## jlbpooh

Be careful with the piggy poo. Our piggy poo killed a large sweet gum, a cedar tree, and a large oak.


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