apple tree prunings every day--is this OK?

[digger]

I have a 2-yr-old doe who has a 7-week-old wether (just wethered), plus I have an 8 week old buckling (to be wethered soon) and an 8 week old doeling. The last 2 have been bottle-fed since they were young; their mother refused them and the owner gave them to me (I'm home all day). All the babies eat browse and hay now also. They all eat liberally from their loose goat minerals and baking soda which are always available, and they all drink some water too.

I started throwing the branches I pruned from my apple trees into the goat pen when I first got them about 6 weeks ago. They stripped them in no time. It became a daily practice. Now I'm cutting branches for them twice a day (thank heavens for lots of apple trees!) They're all also getting some cut-up apples (whatever comes off the trees with the branches; I pick them off and cut them into little pieces). They're eating more apple leaves than hay.

They all love the leaves and the apples. Only the doe gets goat chow mixed with another local feed blended specially for goats. The others get no grain or pellets, just their milk, hay, and apple leaves--plenty of them.

They all seem happy and healthy, all are growing well and gaining weight, all poop fine. So it doesn't appear that there's anything wrong with this, but still...I just want to make sure there won't be some problem that only shows up after time...like finding that it throws off the C balance and they end up with UC...

Any feedback/advice?

 

[cmjust0]

Urinary calculi almost always results from feeding too much grain. I don't think I've ever heard of a case of it that didn't involve bagged feed in one capacity or another -- never from a 'natural' source of food like graze, browse...nor apple tree leaves.

We have two apple trees that overhang the barnyard fence. Or, perhaps I should say, we have two apple trees that USED to overhang the fence....the goats are doing most of the 'overhanging' in that area these days, and the limbs are magically kept pruned juuuuuuuuuust out of reach of a goat's mouth at all times.



I think you're fine.

 

[freemotion]

I gather branches and such for anyone who needs to gain weight, which currently includes my three 2-3 month old babies. Well, one doesn't need to, but she is stalled at night with her smaller sibling who could use some growing.

I tie them in bundles with a small ball bungee and attach that to a snap that hangs in the stall to keep them off the ground. They "browse" on them and grow better than on grain.

Go for it. You are a good goat papa!

 

[digger]

Thanks for the reassurances. Actually, it's goat mama, and I guess if you want to be accurate, goat granny. The goats are for my 4-year-old grand-daughter who fell in love with goats at her first county fair shortly after her first birthday. We go every year and spend all day with the goats. So when this opportunity came up, we got them. I've always had horses, thought goats couldn't be that much different (I always did my own shots, hoof trimming, worming, etc). In some ways they are similar, but in some ways they couldn't be more different--especially the feeding. Having them be my grand-daughter's makes it extra important to get it right. This forum was a great find, and I appreciate all the information everyone shares.

 

[freemotion]

Sorry, Goat Mama, I was reading fast and for some reason got the idea that you were a guy....

When I got my first goats (as an adult, we had goats when I was a kid for dairy and meat) they were as a companion for my retired horse. One thing that was great was that I would feed them all together and the goats would quickly go through the hay, picking out any weeds they could find, and the horse would clean up everything else, right off the ground. There was NO waste!

Not so anymore, since my horse died. If you open a weedy bale, give it to the goats.

When I was a kid, I would give the hay to the goats first, and give the leftovers to the horse at the next feeding. Only a little waste that way, as the goats would sometimes soil the hay that they'd pulled onto the ground.

Goats are wonderful! Just remember this line when they are naughty: Its a good thing you are CUTE!

My buckling is already gaining weight on the leafy branches I bring to him. He has been here only since Monday and I see a difference already. It is the goat's natural and preferred food.

 

[cmjust0]

We have two apple trees in the backyard, and the branches were hanging too low to mow under.. Plus, I just got our riding mower up and going again recently...it was down for about a week. And the primer bulb in my weed-eater cracked, sooo.. And we had rain while the mower was down.

When my wife got home from work yesterday, my words to here were "Don't let the dogs out."

Some of you have already figured out where I'm going with this.



Save for some larger branches that need to be cut, the apple trees are now mower-height and the weed problem is considerably less. Another day or two and we'll be in good shape.


And, ya...I'm dead serious. I really did that.

 

[digger]

Sounds like something my husband would have done, which is why I keep them pruned high enough he can get under them (and I do mulch around the trunks.) Besides, I think of all the money I save on hay, and suddenly I don't mind doing all that pruning at all...