# Oak Leaves



## stano40 (Oct 26, 2013)

Can goat kids be affected by eating too many oak leaves (tannin)?

bob


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## elevan (Oct 26, 2013)

The high tannin content may have a positive effect of keeping worm loads down.


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## stano40 (Oct 26, 2013)

I thought high amounts of tannin was poisonous to goats?  I know they love pine needles and bark.

bob


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## bloonskiller911 (Oct 26, 2013)

I wonder this same question.  my goats and sheep love the fallen oak leaves but I had read that they shouldn't have acorns.


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## california cowgirl (Oct 26, 2013)

The acorns have the high tannic acid.  Very poisonous to cattle and horses.  I hear from some old tymers that pig farmers used to gather up acorns to fatten hogs on.  That would be along time ago.  We had a huge acorn poisoning in our cow herd about 7-8 yrs ago and lost about 50 head and then the deformed calves started to show up.  Lost about 100 of them legs were deformed and rubberlike and could not stand or suck.  It was a mess.  I had many orphans to feed and at least I was able to graft them on cows that lost calves and were not so sick.  But check with your vet.  I have heard that goats are fine but that was a while ago.


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## elevan (Oct 26, 2013)

There is a lot of back and forth on this.  I say do your research, talk to your vet and make an informed decision for your goat herd.


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## stano40 (Oct 26, 2013)

elevan said:
			
		

> There is a lot of back and forth on this.  I say do your research, talk to your vet and make an informed decision for your goat herd.


Yea, that was helpful.


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## bonbean01 (Oct 26, 2013)

I've been researching this, and our local vet know nothing about goats and sheep.  After researching this online, I am finding that oak leaves in small quanties is not harmful to goats and sheep...the tannins can help with worms...but large amounts can be toxic. 

Have also been researching Hickory leaves...as we just had large Oak and Hickory trees taken down close to power lines and would like to feed some branches with green leaves to the sheep but were wary.  Have not found one bit of information about Hickory leaves.

I have sheep, not goats...but have found that they share much of the same information.

So, if anyone has more information about both oak and hickory leaves, it would be helpful to many of us that do not have the luxury of living in an area with a vet who deals with sheep and goats.


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## dhansen (Oct 27, 2013)

My goats eat oak leaves, acorns and a whole lot of walnut leaves and husks ( full of Tannin).  They are all thriving.  I think it might be a little trickier if they get into that stuff all at once and eat a LOT.  My goats are used to it.


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## bonbean01 (Oct 27, 2013)

I think that I will give oak leaves in small amounts off and on...like the idea of tannins helping with worms, just will be careful not to over do it.  Since I've found nothing on Hickory tree leaves, will not give them to my sheep at all.  A shame since huge oak and hickory trees were cut down and the sheep would love the branches with leaves, but don't want to take a chance of hurting them.


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## goatboy1973 (Oct 27, 2013)

We have several large Oak trees in one of our goat paddocks and our Spanish goats and commercial meat goat herd will stand under the trees and wait for the acorns to hit the ground and rush over to get them fresh off the tree. Oak leaves and acorns are high in Tannins which has been proven scientifically to reduce worm loads in goats. Too much of a good thing is not good for them in the case of tannin but goats are good at being browsers and are a bit ADHD about their diet and get bored eating the same foodstuff all the time and prefer a variety in their dietary intake. As long as your goats have a variety of food sources like feed and browse and pasture, they should be okay because the other foodstuffs they eat will "dilute" the tannins a bit. Acorns are bad for cattle because their digestive systems are slightly different from a goat and their system handles the tannins differently. When we raised beef cattle and the fall rolled around, we fenced off the cattle from the woodland because if they ate acorns, it would dry their milk up and we would have to bottle feed calves.


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## OneFineAcre (Dec 7, 2013)

Mine eat a lot of oak leaves and acorns.


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## jodief100 (Dec 8, 2013)

I am with Goatboy on this one.  Oak leaves and acorns are good for them as long as it does not make up the bulk of their diet.  Mine wander the woods and eat them but hey also eat a lot of other stuff.  The only leaves I know of they will kill them outright are wilted cherry leaves or rhododendron.


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