What to eat... what not to eat....

[princessferf]

As a new goat owner I want to do my best to ensure that our Charlie is getting good nutrition.  We have not been offering much hay, instead he's been browsing/eating weeds and then has his daily bowl of grain/minerals.

I spend at least 1.5 hours with him out browsing and working with him on leash training.  While out browsing, I'm taking note of the various weeds and grasses that he's eating.  My goal is to be able to identify all of the various stuff growing to know if its "good" or "bad" for goats.  Being a gardener, I have numerous books to help me identify weeds native to Wisconsin.  

If I identify things he shouldn't eat and we remove/avoid them, yet if he eats them by accident, how do you treat?  I assume it depends on the plant ingested.  Is there something you keep on hand for accidental ingestions of bad stuff?

[comfortablynumb]

Some goats are picky... some are not so picky. Buster will eat anything he can find, even paper and pink insulation he found once he tore off the vynal siding of my moms house....

Horns are like can openers. For some, not for others.

Hula however is very picky about what she eats. She does not try to rip apart everything with her horns. Shes a very good goat.

Yesterday we heard a noise. We looked outside and buster was in the cow shed, hammering his head into a goat sized hole he had made. Buster is a very bad goat. He is not an escape artist so he has that going for him. He does respect electric wires.

The neighbors 2 goats, vinny and rocco (maybe a decade or more ago when they had them) were horned escape artists. They were impossible to keep in, and laughed at electric wire. They would get out, go find a neighbors yard and take a nap. They were very friendly men about town, who didn't care at all to be lead back to their home. Why not? Its not like it was going to keep them there.

So... you never know what they'll end up being.

[shellymay]

I am not sure what your saying, does he only get to brows when you are out with him? Or does he have a fenced in pasture that he can brows all day?

[here to stay]

There are a few that the goats find tasty that are not good for them. Bracken is one. And for some reason rhodies. I've heard that they will eat choke cherries but have no personal experience with that.

But the goat habit of eating lots of different stuff offers them some protection against bad stuff. Unlike other animals who will consume lots, the goat usually eats a small enough amount of any one thing that it's not too damaging.

Goats are pretty good at sorting out the bad stuff if they are not starving. Except for that pesky bracken.

[princessferf]

His pen has grass and a few weeds that he can eat, plus we put fresh stuff that we cut in there for him to eat during the day. After work is when he does his big browsing when I'm out with him (to make sure he doesn't eat my perennials or if I take him outside the fenced area that is overgrown with weeds, grass and a little alfalfa).

So basically he snacks during the day on his grains and grass/some weeds. Evenings is when he has his "big browse", plus leash work. At that time I let him eat until he's obviously full and stops on his own. Plus, you can see how big that belly gets.

[shellymay]

Great, I asked because a goat left to be hungry all day and only taken out to brows once per day would be a hungry goat and they would tend to eat anything to fill their stomach asap, a well fed goat like others have said will usually eat a little of this and a little of that and move on, my only experience with poisonous plants is the

wilted cherry tree leaves, and my lamb died before I realized anything was even wrong.......that is the hard part, most of these animals don't show us signs of things being

wrong health wise until it is to late, treating bloat for over eating things that aren't poisonous is hard enough but at least you have a chance with bloat, poisons are so difficult.....My advice to you would be call your vet and ask their advice on this difficult question.... 

[princessferf]

Thanks Shellymay. He definitely browses. He has one bush he's been destroying for the past week so he spends a bit of time there. Other than that he nibbles a little here and there until he just can't eat anymore. Although when he finds some of his favorites (as I'm discovering what he loves) he'll stand there and eat and eat and eat and eat. I honestly don't know where he puts it all.

I can tell when he's starting to get full because he begins belching.

He's just such a sweetie, I'm really enjoying him.