Re: Evergreen trees vs goats?


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ GoatWorld Message Forum ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Vicki McGaugh on April 03, 2001 at 12:47:55:

In Reply to: Evergreen trees vs goats? posted by Nat on April 01, 2001 at 20:20:33:

I live in the piney woods, pine, cedar, oaks, hickory etc. The biggest problem always comes with animals who are not used to them. We recently were having some bloating problems, noting big enough to cause real problems. In the back of my mind I wondered if perhaps a tree was down on the fence and the 9 yearlings were helping themsleves to meals of red clover in the cattle pasture. When I finally got time to walk the fenceline, I noticed that the power company had cut down 20 of our trees, letting them fall in the woods. So after a winter of hay the girls went out and ate their full (overfull) of all these trees. Normally any other time of the year this wouldn't have been a problem, just a case of to much too soon in the year. Pine contains lots of tanic acid and if the goats don't have a good supply of bacteria in their rumen to counteract all this acid than yes rumen acidosis can cause all sorts of problems. Make sure your goats are well fed before they eat their treat, baking soda out in the feeders, and all good grass hay carries natural bicarbonate in it from the drying process. Vicki


Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ GoatWorld Message Forum ] [ FAQ ]