# Will they eat wet pasture?



## oppida (Oct 25, 2012)

I'm a new goat owner and have two 1.5 year old boer goats and 3 5 year old Pygmy goats. We had our first snow of the season and the pasture is wet. It's standard "hay" pasture, but now it's very wet. Will the goats continue eating it or should I be giving them all dry hay? 

I ask because my 2 boer goats keep "yelling" at me when they see me and I don't know if they want food? They typically yell at me when they want grain, but I only give them grain at the end of the day as a treat- not as their main source of food. 

I've cut down some willow branches and they all gobbled them up, and I don't see them grazing the pasture as much. Do I need to just feed them hay when the pasture is wet? 

Thank you!!!


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## CochinBrahmaLover=) (Oct 25, 2012)

goats don't graze, and shouldn't. Now, that said, they will eat woody pastures (shrubs, sprouts of trees, etc.)so your typical 'Hay pasture' doesn't give us much info.

Yes, I would give them dry hay, when they eat a lot of wet food, they get bloated, which can lead to death.


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## SheepGirl (Oct 25, 2012)

My sheep, though considered grazers, not browsers like goats, will graze wet pasture. They do it every morning with the dew on the grass. And also while it's raining and afterwards. If they're used to it, they'll be okay and likely won't have any health issues because of it.


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## CochinBrahmaLover=) (Oct 25, 2012)

SheepGirl said:
			
		

> My sheep, though considered grazers, not browsers like goats, will graze wet pasture. They do it every morning with the dew on the grass. And also while it's raining and afterwards. If they're used to it, they'll be okay and likely won't have any health issues because of it.


Really? I thought if they ate high moisture content food they'll get bloated?


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## Catahoula (Oct 25, 2012)

LOL, my goats have been chomping on the grass lately and my pasture looks like I have mowed it recently! We also had some fresh snow and everything is covered. They were trying to eat from the lower branches of the pine trees that are full of snow. If they had been eating from the hay pasture, I don't see why they wouldn't continue eating from it. But to be on the safe side, I'll also have dry hay available in case they don't.  Since most everything is covered, I had hay in the barn for them also.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Oct 25, 2012)

Goats are primarily browsers but they can and will eat pasture. They will do this when there is no browse or if they grew up on pasture. I have several Kiko does that lived 4+ years on pasture only and they love grass. The sometimes prefer it over leaves and browse. And yes, they will eat wet grass but I'm not a fan of them doing it.


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 25, 2012)

hard to know what your pasture looks like, but I if we got an inch of snow right now and then it melted tomorrow, and just stayed wet I would expect mine to graze. 
With that said, If it falls below 40 degress at night we supplement with some evening hay, if it starts to freeze the pasture we keep hay out for the goats all day. 

mine only have the pasture, they don't have any browse or trees or brush to eat.  They only get pasture from March/April to October/November, no supplemented hay. Normally we are feeding some hay in November and full hay by December through March.  

Not sure what your temps are and what your lows have been. But I would probably consider giving them a little hay at this point. I give mine 2 to 3 lbs each per day when the wether is on and off cold and then about 5 lbs per head per day(about all they can eat) when it starts to stay consistantly cold and the pasture stops growing. 


I think if I understand you correctly you only have a couple goats and they should have plenty of pasture. It is tall, as in, several inches tall or is your pasture fairly short at this point?


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## Pearce Pastures (Oct 25, 2012)

They probably would nibble at it but I do remember reading something along the way about letting pasture dry before turning goats out to it because of parasites delivered by slugs or something like that.  I, however, have my goats set up so that they can, for the most part, come and go as the please so they are in in damp pasture sometimes.  Mine don't graze much though and have hay available always so they might not be as tempted to either.


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## SheepGirl (Oct 25, 2012)

CochinBrahmaLover=) said:
			
		

> SheepGirl said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To my understanding, only if they aren't used to it. If an animal goes from a primarily dry diet to a high moisture diet (ie hay to grass) then they could bloat unless they are filled up on hay first to prevent them from eating too much grass. However my sheep are now back on solely grass and I've never had a sheep bloat in the 6 yrs I've owned them (knock on wood)--and they've grazed grass touched by snow, rain, hail, ice, dew, etc.


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## oppida (Oct 25, 2012)

Thank you! We got our goats locally and they have only been raised on local pasture. We live out in the country and we "hay" our fields- so that is the source of the dry hay that we bale up in summer and feed them in winter. There are some weeds, shrubs in their fenced in area and I feed them willows on a regular basis.  

The large fenced in area the goats are in was not cut and baled in summer, so it's still pretty long (where they haven't eaten it to the ground).  It's at least 6 inches tall in some areas! 

We live in the Sierra Valley in California and our highs are around 50-60 and lows around 20. We had snow for 2 days, now it is melted completely. 

So I guess I'll feed them a flake of dry hay a day when the pasture is wet after a snow (of course, I always feed them dry hay when it snows) The weather is going to be dry and warmer for the next few days, so they might graze some more...

Thanks again!!!


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 26, 2012)

Sounds like they are just being picky and have plenty to eat.  Sound like very lucky goats.


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## aggieterpkatie (Oct 26, 2012)

I'm not sure why some people say goats shouldn't graze...that's just not true.  Goats can graze just like sheep, but they may prefer browse if both are available.  My goats are expected to graze along with the sheep, and they do. Of course, goats are babies and they're more vocal if they're unhappy all the have is pasture (boo hoo) but I ignore them and they eat.


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## GoatCrazyLady (Oct 26, 2012)

Have any pics of your new babies??? We love pics!


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 26, 2012)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> I'm not sure why some people say goats shouldn't graze...that's just not true.  Goats can graze just like sheep, but they may prefer browse if both are available.  My goats are expected to graze along with the sheep, and they do. Of course, goats are babies and they're more vocal if they're unhappy all the have is pasture (boo hoo) but I ignore them and they eat.


lol, mine also just have to deal with it.


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## oppida (Oct 26, 2012)

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> I'm not sure why some people say goats shouldn't graze...that's just not true.  Goats can graze just like sheep, but they may prefer browse if both are available.  My goats are expected to graze along with the sheep, and they do. Of course, goats are babies and they're more vocal if they're unhappy all the have is pasture (boo hoo) but I ignore them and they eat.


All the goats in our area are raised on pasture. We live in a valley of ranch lands and that's pretty much all there is! The breeder I got the 2 Boer goats from has many, many goats on a pasture. I got the Pygmy goats from a woman whose kids were moving on to other animals in 4H and the goats were raised on pasture...They seem just fine.


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## oppida (Oct 26, 2012)

GoatCrazyLady said:
			
		

> Have any pics of your new babies??? We love pics!


It's hard to get them all in one picture, but I got this super funny photo of one of our goats yesterday. My 2 year old son named him "Cow".  Note my funny little chicken peeking out in the back ground! LOL


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