OK...Please help me understand. I have my two does in a pen with shed. Definitely enough space, but the kids and I take them out to go on a walk in our backyard which is only about an acre. They LOVE this. The immediately eat the old crunchy maple leaves and green grass. Is this backyard grass OK? We used to use TRU GREEN. But this year we won't use them in the backyard because of pesticides. My real question is, "Do I take them out little by little and get them acclimated to that type of normal backyard grass. Is that grass OK for them or "too sweet". I don't have normal pasture with weeds and stuff like that. Any thoughts about this being good or not so good and what we could do for them so they have something more than hay an sweet grain? Do any of you do this "silage" thing? How does that work out? Thanks in Advance
Goats are browsers and not grazers. They like leaves, tender shoots, and the like. They really don't care that much for grass. Given the choice they'll eat your trees, shrubs, and flowers before they eat your grass. About the chemicals, I really don't know what is in Tru Green, so it is hard to say how long until it dissipates. Maybe talk to your local ag agent? Rusty
When I had goats, they liked my poplar trees when they were green, but they loved them when the leaves dried in autumn. You might like to plant a few fodder trees for them,as Rusty said they are browsers,and they would really enjoy it.
My goats are on my grass all the time as they live in my fairly small backyard. They don't eat the grass, period. They will nibble at the stuff that is coming up in the graveled areas where I don't want grass to grow, but they don't eat the lawn at all.
