B&B Happy Goats....journal

[B&B Happy goats]

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[frustratedearthmother]

I was previously wondering about bamboo for goats to browse on - thanks for answering that question for me! I may have to break down and get some planted. Thanks for doing the experimenting for me, lol!

 

[farmerjan]

There is a form of bamboo that grows here. It must be a spreading kind as it is very invasive, very hard to eradicate, and it takes over everything. But if it were a possible goat food, I can see it's benefits. They do die back in the winter, and often will all fall down and make a mess. It does make a nice "screen" though.
A couple of my dairy farmers have labs that they breed to poodles for a non-shedding animal. The puppies sell good. They are cute.

 

[Ridgetop]

Really hard to have to go through that kind of stuff. The neighbors on our private road all have mailboxes near the bottom of the road and for a while we were losing mail from our boxes. Several of the boxes belonged to older persons getting SS checks through the mail. Some days we would find mail removed from the boxes, just thrown on the ground and blowing around. Finally we started putting up locking mailboxes. Our neighbor has a metal shop and made mailboxes to our specs. Then he made a metal platform for all the boxes to attach to. Since then, no losses.

A lot of the neighbors with mailboxes at the street along the road were getting hit by gangs of teens who would come through at night and knock down the mailboxes and posts with baseball bats. Finally the residents started putting up metal posts and filling them with concrete before attaching the boxes. Some made brick pillars with the boxes inside them. The first time the teens came back and tried to knock over the concrete filled metal posts they got a shock! Hopefully they got broken bones in their hands or wrists. Most people with mailboxes on the road have reinforced posts and boxes now. A shame, but it beats losing your mail.

I sure hope we don't have that problem when we move.

 

[Mini Horses]

Questions about the bamboo....will they eat the young branches or just leaves? And what are the other bushes protected in that area? does the bamboo drop and stop leaf production seasonally? I know you have winter but not long or cold enough for some changes. Do you have comfrey? My goats and chickens love it to death! Yeah, unless several years old, they can eat it totally...root and all. I am working toward a sizeable stand as it is high protein as well as but/min complex. Then I can hand harvest and feed. It also a great fertilizer...like rich compost. At this point it needs fence protection...like my young fruit trees...berry canes, etc from goats!

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Questions about the bamboo....will they eat the young branches or just leaves? And what are the other bushes protected in that area? does the bamboo drop and stop leaf production seasonally? I know you have winter but not long or cold enough for some changes. Do you have comfrey? My goats and chickens love it to death! Yeah, unless several years old, they can eat it totally...root and all. I am working toward a sizeable stand as it is high protein as well as but/min complex. Then I can hand harvest and feed. It also a great fertilizer...like rich compost. At this point it needs fence protection...like my young fruit trees...berry canes, etc from goats!

Honestly I have forgotten the name of those other bush's that I had planted in there a year before the bamboo....
The goats have eaten the young shoots off the smaller bamboo that was planted most recently, we had five goats trying to get it as we were bringing it out there to plant ( like candy to a kid)....we got a frost / freeze and while some plants have frost bite, the bamboo is showing no effects, .... the leaves don't fall off the shoots either......no, comfrey here, yet...and yep, I do think the fencing is a good idea, that will keep the main plant growing while the shoots can be feed.. Next summer I plan on taking some off the backside of the plants and replanting in more areas across the back.

 

[Mike CHS]

We have two stands of bamboo, one spreading and the other clumping. I planted one group too close to a fence so I have to keep an eye on that but it's easy to control inside a section of fencing. The shoots that come up outside the fence gets eaten, stalk and all unless I don't use that paddock for awhile. The sheep love it but it has taken 4 years for the stands to get to a decent size. Both types are the giant bamboo.

 

[Mini Horses]

So had to check out bamboo nutrition and it's pretty good for animals and people. Always knew it was eaten, young shoots, by people just never looked it up. Always checking for sustainable forage but, this would serve us humans, too. Planted by a fence it would be a self service item. how nice!

 

[Mike CHS]

This site is where I bought our bamboo but it also has a lot of information if you're interested.

Lewis Bamboo - Bamboo Plants & Products for Sale

We are a family-owned bamboo nursery with 20 years of commercial bamboo plant sales. As one of North America’s largest bamboo nursery, we are dedicated to selling excellent bamboo plants & products.

lewisbamboo.com

 

[B&B Happy goats]

When I lived in South Florida I used to go to a bamboo farm, you got on a golf cart and could go wherever you wanted to go, I would spend several hours traveling the farm and sit quietly among many varieties that were fully grown and so beautiful, the "Budda Bamboo" is my favorite ....may need to see if that would grow in this zone