How much will goats utilize wooded pasture?

[Eric]

Goats are browsers and not grazers like sheep are. They not only prefer leaves and the woods but it is also better for them and more natural to a goat. My Kikos are almost always in the woods and really don't get much pasture at all. You do, however, have to be VERY careful and it is best if you have many areas because when goats get in there they WILL kill and destroy everything in there. They will eat everything in there much faster than what you could think and you'll be sitting there kicking yourself for not having different areas because they will not have any more browse for not just the summer but then all of winter and if they did a good enough job then it may not grow back at all. Goats are good like that.

I would suggest that you have many areas and different "fields" so you can move them before they kill it all off, that way they still have browse and you have other areas still alive and areas that are growing back. That really is the only way you can do goats in the woods or you will end up having to feed feed and hay for 11 months of the year. Not fun.

So should I limit the hay they get so they go after the browse or are they going to go after the browse first?

My goats get hay nearly all year round but in the summer I do limit sometimes. And my goats at least prefer browse over hay any day but sometimes when I see them being lazy and leaving the browse and only eating hay, that's when I take the hay to force them to eat the browse.

And yes they LOVE any kind of thorns. Do not pull them out because thorns give so many leaves and they love them. To goats they are like candy.

Thanks that was very help full. I hope that they will kill everything in there. I also have another cleared area that I am going to try to establish some grass.

 

[OneFineAcre]

This is what I would do. You have a split rail fence. I would add 4' tall welded wire to the existing split rail. Would be much more secure as far as predators. I have seen that a lot. People who like the look of split rail, but have animals and need to keep them in and dogs out. It would be really easy to do, and wouldn't cost a whole lot. Digging the post holes is the real work.

I have 13 adult Nigerians and 7 kids on a little over an acre that is a wooded lot. Mostly pine with a few gums and oaks. Mine are essentially dry lot at this point. The bulk of their roughage comes from hay. Obviously I buy 4x5 round bales in bulk.

I think they will clean your browse pretty quick. Not sure how much of their support you will be able to get on a hardwood wooded lot 1/2 acre in size. If you utilized the entire 18 acres with just a few goats then yes, a lot more.

Depending on how big your trees are will determine if they will actually clear the lot totally. Mine have stripped the bark and essentially killed trees as big around as my arm. I don't think mine will ever kill the pines.

I would not limit their hay.