# goats love to eat spruce trees



## 1eyejer (Jan 11, 2011)

does anyone else feed whole spruce trees to their goats,,my goats just love them..they will even try to jump the fence when they see me dragging one out of the woods,,i would also like to know if there are any trees i should avoid,,what about birch trees??can they eat dried cattail stems??


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## Emmetts Dairy (Jan 11, 2011)

This is a list...note not everythings included...but its a start.  Hope it helps. And yes they can eat cat tail.  Mine wont eat them dry or browned but they will eat them up like crazy when green!  We have alot of white birch and sweet birch and they are also fine with them.   


http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm


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## 1eyejer (Jan 11, 2011)

Emmetts Dairy said:
			
		

> This is a list...note not everythings included...but its a start.  Hope it helps. And yes they can eat cat tail.  Mine wont eat them dry or browned but they will eat them up like crazy when green!  We have alot of white birch and sweet birch and they are also fine with them.
> 
> 
> http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm


Very helpful...Thank You


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## glenolam (Jan 11, 2011)

We scored big time right after Christmas - a tree dealer had tons of pre-cut trees that no one wanted so they gave them away for free.  We got about 10 Christmas trees for free - not to mention that all our friends and family give us their trees too!


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## freemotion (Jan 11, 2011)

Birch is fine, so are cattails.  I live next to a xmas tree farm and last year the four does I had ate 48 trees!  They aren't interested in them in the spring/summer/fall when other fresh greens are available.

Know your maples and avoid too much red maple (wild red maple is the one with smallish leaves and red leaf stems) and too much oak.

Poplar/aspen is good, too.  Also apple.  Goldenrod.  Grape leaves.


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## AlaskanShepherdess (Jan 11, 2011)

My goats go CRAZY over birch. In fact when all the birch leaves were yellow and on the ground they would rather eat those then their lovely green hay. 

My goats were only offered spruce when they had lots of birch and wild rose to eat so they didn't eat any. But I bet if I offered them some now they would go nuts over it. I should give them some, spruce needles are high in Vit C.


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## Livinwright Farm (Jan 11, 2011)

Our goats LOVE birch, regular maple, striped maple and this young tree that smells like wintergreen when snapped(I think black birch).  They aslo LOVE wild strawberry leaves. BTW, Wild Strawberries will explode in growth when given heaps of chicken manure!


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## mossyStone (Jan 11, 2011)

Mine go NUTS for Hemlock and Maples... but i think Alders are the fav......


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## Livinwright Farm (Jan 11, 2011)

mossyStone said:
			
		

> Mine go NUTS for Hemlock and Maples... but i think Alders are the fav......


As long as they are eating hemlock tree and not hemlock plant(related to the carrot & *extremely* toxic!).


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## dkluzier (Jan 11, 2011)

Yup, I want to put up a sign after Christmas " dump your trees here!"  Evergreens are supposed to be dewormers and my goats love them


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## FarmerDenise (Jan 12, 2011)

Be careful about trees that have been in peoples houses or especially businesses. They may have been sprayed with fire retardent. Some wash off, but you would have to know what was used. You also need to check for things left in the tree. I found hooks in the one I received.


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Jan 12, 2011)

The hemlock in WA are trees.


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## mossyStone (Jan 12, 2011)

Yep in washington Hemlocks are huge trees and my goats love um more than me... ( they rot and die and fall where i dont want them too)


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## Livinwright Farm (Jan 12, 2011)

Hemlock in NH is just trees, as far as I know anyways, but in doing research for our little herd, I found out that the poisonous hemlock isn't the tree but a plant. Thought I would pass the knowledge along as I always assumed that the tree was what Socrates used. Learn something new everyday!


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