Good trees / Bad Trees

[dhansen]

My goats live under/in a walnut orchard most of the year. (They are moved before I harvest the walnuts) They eat both black walnut and English walnut leaves all the time. My nubians will occasionally eat old walnuts they find on the ground. They also eat oak leaves and acorns out in the big pasture. I guess they may not be "great" for them, but they gobble them up and are doing fine. When I had horses, they ate the walnut leave also.

 

[crazyland]

Goats also LOVE pecan leaves.

 

[treegod]

Thanks for the advice on the pine trees, I feel happier about that. Pine is what dominates around here, alongside holm oak.

Been feeding them a bit of heather which they love too.

I tend to watch what they eat and don't eat and try to take some of my cues from that. The other day on of my goats took hold of some Bryony (I think it was Bryony) as if to test and the next moment she let go and went to feed on something else.

Also, Spurge, is that ok?

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

My goats LOVE LOVE LOVE birch leaves. I looked up what they are high in the other day, and I forget everything, except they are high in calcium, which is really nice for me since alfalfa is crazy expensive up here.

They really like to nibble on occasion on spruce needles, they especially like the tips in the spring. A good Vit C source, and my brother says it is a natural dewormer as well.

They also like poplar and willow, but nothing compares to their top 3 favorites; 1. Wild Rose 2. Birch 3. Wild Raspberry (or cultivated). They pretty much decimated my raspberry patch last night.

 

[elevan]

My goats absolutely LOVE pine needles. The pines that are in the field are now nude of all needles on their lower branches...gonna have to do some trimming

They also love the honey locust leaves and pods when they fall. The great thing about that tree is that the thorns keep them from decimating the tree and they have to wait for the fall of the leaves and pods...but it must be worth the wait!

 

[maggies.family]

Are fig trees ok? Our pen is being set up right next to, and some of it under some fig trees. We have so many fig trees we are ok if the goats tear them up, I just want to make sure the goats will be ok if they eat it.

 

[Goatherd]

The good folks at Fias Co Farms list fig trees as safe. For what it's worth...

 

[maggies.family]

The good folks at Fias Co Farms list fig trees as safe. For what it's worth...

Awesome! Thank you Goatheard!

 

[LadyIsabelle2011]

One I keep trying to find out about, but can't find on any list, either safe or unsafe, are Rose of Sharon / Hibiscus.

We have 500 or so that I prune yearly and if the goats can have the spoils I'd be thrilled...I'm just afraid to try it.

I have rose of sharon trees in my pen(it used to be part of the garden) along with some crape myrtle and a giant wild rose that my goats absolutely love, they have eaten all the leaves as far as they can reach and in some cases the whole tree if it was a small one

sooo I would say rose of sharon is fine...

They also love privit hedge, wax myrtle, black berry bushes, any type of vines, black jack vines, and chinese tallow...they also like wisteria but the pods are poisonous on those...


Anybody know if Mimosa trees are poisonous or not?