When it comes to eating, goats are more like deer than sheep or cattle, and their smaller mouths and split lips give them the ability to select tasty leaves from amongst thorns, find choice blossoms in what appears to be weeds or brush, and thrive on what would starve a cow. But contrary to the old stereotype, goats will not eat tin cans and people’s red underwear. In reality, they are drawn to the most nutritious plants, including weeds, and the leaves and bark of bushes and trees.
For many of us, the term “pasture” brings to mind rolling grassy fields, but for ideal goat grazing, that picture needs to be amended. You need some good, healthy weeds dotted throughout that picturesque grass!
Kathy Voth, owner of Livestock for Landscapes and the founder and editor of the online grazing magazine On Pasture, has a whole different take on weeds than most people.
“They’re really nutritious and really good for animals,” she says. “The reason animals don’t eat them is because they never have, so why would they start now?”
For goats, Voth’s favorite plant in any pasture is Canada thistle. “As forage, it’s very resilient, propagating from roots and seeds,” she says. “Goats can graze it down, and it’ll come up again. It’s also high in protein, which is a hard thing for animals to get.”
Normally, grasses, weeds and browse should make up 90 to 100% of a goat’s diet. If you’ve got a hillside full of poison ivy, wild honeysuckle, briars and whatnot, your goats will be in heaven.
GOATS ARE PICKIER EATERS THAN YOU’D THINK
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Goats 101 - 2023 من Hobby Farms.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Goats 101 - 2023 من Hobby Farms.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Ostrich EDUCATION
If you're looking for a unique livestock option, these large, flightless birds might be the answer.
Spiced Apple Rings
Learn the best and tastiest ways to put up the traditional canning foods, from tomatoes and green beans to apples and peaches in this new book.
RURAL REBOUND
Have cities reached their peak?
Pie Time!
Make a sweet potato crumb pie for the holidays or any day!
Soil SOLUTIONS
By practicing more sustainable farming techniques, we can bring back the rich topsoil of the preindustrial era.
Groundbreaking Fertilizer
Raise compost worms and harvest their waste, which is a natural and powerful plant fertilizer.
Cut & Dried
DRYING YOUR HERB HARVEST OFFERS AN EASY WAY TO PRESERVE ITS FLAVOR AND USEFULNESS FOR PROJECTS AND RECIPES YEAR-ROUND.
HERB-INFUSED LIP BALM
CREATE A SOOTHING AND GENTLE PRODUCT PERFECT FOR HEALING DRY, CHAPPED LIPS.
Heart & Soul
CONSIDER SOME HEART- AND LUNG HEALTHY HERBS.
TO LIFT You Up
HERBS CAN PROVIDE EXTRA SUPPORT WHEN IT COMES TO DEPRESSION.