# Goats and Orange Trees



## Goatherd Wannabe (Oct 5, 2010)

There is a 7+ acre property that I have my eyes on and one day I want to purchase it God willing.  It is an orange orchard with a house. I want to graze goats on the property as there is a lot of undergrowth.  My question is: Would the goats kill the orange trees and would the bark, leaves, oranges, etc. harm or kill the goats?


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## Hollywood Goats (Oct 5, 2010)

They will strip the bark on any tree younger than 7 years, and they will all of the leaves that they can reach (expect lemons because they have thorns) 

My goats have not gotten sick from the bark or leaves, but they have never had the fruit and they have not killed the trees either.

Where are you?


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## Goatherd Wannabe (Oct 5, 2010)

In Allende, Nuevo Leon, in northeastern Mexico.


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## cmjust0 (Oct 5, 2010)

I dunno about the 7-years thing..  We had a HUGE black locust in our old buckpen area and two young bucks cut a whole bunch of really kinda neat, intricate, concave grooves all in the bark and sapwood by scraping it with their bottom teeth.  Given enough time, I've no doubt they'd have killed it.

And it's seriously like 50+' tall...old...practically half petrified.  Black locust is TOUGH WOOD -- ask anybody who's ever made firewood of it or cut it for posts.  Can hardly drive a fence staple in it.  

They carved that sucker like butter, though.  Can only imagine what they might have done to a fruit tree, no matter how old it was..


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## Hollywood Goats (Oct 5, 2010)

Well I said 7 years because they can't get the bark of my 7 year old tree but they can on the 6, 5 etc.
But that is just citrus, I don't really know about Black locust.

The also couldn't strip the bark from the Barbados cherry tree, but they did strip the mulberry, and killed the pomegranate.


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## cmjust0 (Oct 5, 2010)

Cutting black locust with a chainsaw at dusk is fun.  It throws sparks off the chain.  You pretty much have to sharpen your chain between individual cuts, too, as it'll dull the teeth almost instantly.  Black locust is used around here a lot as fenceposts, but only when it's still green..  Hard enough to staple into when it's green, but once it cures??...forget it.  Bends the staples.  Untreated, it'll stand in the ground for...oh, I dunno...50-60 years without rotting.  

Needless to say, it's tough stuff.  

I was just as surprised as anyone that two little goats made such a mess out of the bark on that ol' tree.


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## mully (Oct 5, 2010)

My smaller pasture 100 X 170ft was fenced 62 years ago with black locust posts. When i bought this place i took off all the old barbed wire and put up high tensile wire on those old posts ... they are so solid with no rot and hard as iron.  Hard to get good black locust around here any more that is as thick as those old posts.


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## Hollywood Goats (Oct 6, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> Cutting black locust with a chainsaw at dusk is fun.  It throws sparks off the chain.  You pretty much have to sharpen your chain between individual cuts, too, as it'll dull the teeth almost instantly.  Black locust is used around here a lot as fenceposts, but only when it's still green..  Hard enough to staple into when it's green, but once it cures??...forget it.  Bends the staples.  Untreated, it'll stand in the ground for...oh, I dunno...50-60 years without rotting.
> 
> Needless to say, it's tough stuff.
> 
> I was just as surprised as anyone that two little goats made such a mess out of the bark on that ol' tree.


I read up on Black Locust and apparently goats love them! they just don't like citrus trees as much as black locust, so they shouldn't do much damage to any older tree.


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## Roll farms (Oct 6, 2010)

Our farm is COVERED w/ black locust.  I mean lousy with it...the goats have pretty much murdered every one that's in the pasture....but I have loads of it growing on the rest of the place.  I hate the darn things, we get flat tires all the time in our 'farm vehicles'.

Sooo...if anyone has the desire for some free black locust...come 'n get it....all you want....free....YOU cut 'em down.  The goats will clean up the brush for you.  

I can't see goats not eating something b/c of thorns...they devour wild rose, raspberry, thistle, etc.  Maybe they don't like the lemon taste....?


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## Hollywood Goats (Oct 6, 2010)

The lemons have long spines that poke their faces and eyes so they tend to leave them alone, but if I don't fence in the smaller orange trees they would eat it to death.


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## Goatherd Wannabe (Oct 9, 2010)

The orange trees that I am talking about are fully grown.  Will that make any difference?


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## Hollywood Goats (Oct 10, 2010)

than they should be fine, they make great shade trees and the goat poop with fertilize them and give you very nice fruit.

The goats with eat the lower leaves, but than you don't have to prune the trees so it makes it easier.


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## Goatherd Wannabe (Oct 11, 2010)

That's what I was hoping for.  Seeing as there are at least forty trees the loss of a few lower branches of oranges won't matter. Like you said their poop will fertilize the trees so maybe they will have more fruit anyway!

A great big THANK YOU to everyone who posted!


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