Poisonous plants for Goats

Well, it is Spring and it certainly roared in like the Lion that it is!

Things are moving along.  The greenhouse is booming with stuff waiting patiently to go into the garden when the weather stabilizes.  The front porch is starting to look lovely with flowers.   The eagles have returned home and the hummingbirds have moved in.   Life is vibrant and exciting at this time of year.  With that said, all of the new growth brings reminders.

Goats are a foraging animal and they are fussy eaters.  My goats love my cedar trees. They also like my new ferns a little too much ;)   While goats love to eat greens, there are several plants that as a goat herder, lover, and farmer, you need to make sure are not part of farm life.

From Fias Co Farm:

Although the goat's digestive system is similar to that of other ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, who are "grazers" and eat grass, goats are more related to deer, who are "browsers". As browsers, goats eat and prefer brush and trees to grass. It is natural for them to nibble a little here, and a little there. Because of this, even if you have poisonous plants on your property, very often, if they have plenty of "safe" browse, they rarely eat enough bad stuff to cause any real harm. For example, we have Nightshade growing on our property, but our goats have plenty of other things to browse upon, so they never touch the Nightshade.

This list is a compilation of poisonous plants from several different sites.  University websites usually keep track of plants that are dangerous so feel free to reach out to your local educational system to learn more. 

LISTING OF EDIBLE & POISONOUS PLANTS IN GOATS
EDIBLE Please note, too much of anything can be bad, so ALL plants, even if in this Edible listing, should be fed only in moderation.	POISONOUS
Acorns (in moderation) Agapanthas Althea Angel Wing Bigoneas Apple Arborvita Avocado*- Mexican Avocado leaves/trees such Pinkerton might not be (*note-South American Avocado leaves ARE poisonous) Bamboo Banana, entire plant, fruit & peel Barkcloth fig (ficus natalensis) Bay Tree Leaves green and dried Bean (all parts) Beets, leaves and root Blackberry bushes (all parts) Black Locus (we had quite a few of these until our goats ate them all) Bramble Broccoli (all parts) Buckbrush (aka coralberry or indian currant) Cabbage Camellias Cantaloupe: fruit, seeds and peel Collard Greens Carrots Catnip Cedar Needles (leaves) & Bark Celery Citrus Clover Comfrey  Corn husks & silk Cottonwood Coyote Bush (Baccharis) Dandelion Douglas Fir Dogwood Elm English Ivy (we feed lvy trimming all the time; they love it) Fava Bean pods Fern Fescue grass Ficus Garlic Ginger Root Grape, entire plants Grape Vine Grapefruit, fruit & peel Greenbrier Hay Plant Heavenly Bamboo Hemlock Trees (which are not the same as the poisonous hemlock, an herbaceous species of plant which is in the carrot family that bears the scientific name “Conium maculatum") Hibiscus Honeysuckle, entire plant  (goats love honeysuckle) Hyssop Ivy Jackfruit leaves Jade Jambolan leaves Japanese Elm Japanese Knotweed aka: polygonum cuspidatum aka: fallopia japonica. Japanese Magnolias (blooms/leaves) Johoba Kudzu Lantana - appears on both lists Lilac bark /branches Lupine - appears on both lists: Seeds are the part of the plant that are the greatest problem. Magnolia Leaves green and dried Mango leaves Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) Maple Trees, leaves & bark - (goats will readily strip the bark and kill the tree) NOT Red Maples (Red Maples can be toxic) Marijuana-in moderation Mesquite Mint Mock Orange Monkeyflower (Mimulus) Mountain Ash (excellent goat forage tree) Morning Glory Moss Mulberry (entire plant) Mullein Mustard Nettles Nightshade - appears on both lists:- I have received a post saying "my goats eat nightshade all the time".  We also have a lot of Nightshade on own property and none of our goats have died from it. Lemon Grass Oak Tree Leaves Okara- pulp left over after making Soymilk Onion Orange, fruit & peel Paloverde - needles & seed pods Patterson's Curse Pea Pods Peanuts, including the shells Pear Pencil cactus Peppers Pepper plants Photinia Pine Trees (we had hundreds of small trees until our goats ate them all) Plum, all PrivetPumpkin Poison Ivy Poison Oak Poison Sumac, the vine Pomegranates Poplar Trees Potatoes Raisins Raspberry, entire plant (goats loves raspberry) Red-tips Rose, all, entire plant (goats loves roses) Rhubarb Leaves Salvation Jane Sassafras Silver Berry Southern Bayberry (myrica cerifera) Spruce trees Sumac, the tree Sunflowers St. John's Wort (can cause sun sensitivity in light skinned goats) Strawberry Sweet Gum Trees Sweet potato leaves Tomatoes (cherry tomatoes make wonderful treats) Tomato plants- in moderation (mine eat them with no problems) Tree of Heaven Turnips Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) Yarrow Yellow Locus Yucca Vetch Virginia Creeper Wandering Jew Watermelon Wax Myrtle (myrica cerifera) Weeping Willow Wild Rose, entire plant (goats loves roses) Wild Tobacco	African Rue Andromeda (related to foxglove) Avocado- South American Avocado leaves/tree such as Haas or crosses with Haas Avocado- Fuarte (definitely) Azalea Brouwer's Beauty Andromeda Boxwood Burning Bush berries Calotropis Cassava (manioc) China Berry Trees, all parts Choke Cherries, wilting especially Choke Cherry Leaves in abundance Datura Dog Hobble Dumb Cane (diffenbachia) (Houseplant) Euonymus Bush berries False Tansy "Fiddleneck"- know by this common name in CA. It is a fuzzy looking, 12" to 15" plant, with small yellow blossoms, shaped on a stem shaped like the neck of a fiddle. Flixweed Fusha Holly Trees/Bushes Ilysanthes floribunda Japanese pieris (extremely toxic) Japanese Yew Lantana - appears on both lists Larkspur- a ferny, flowering plant in shades of blue, pink and white. Lasiandra Lilacs Lily of the Valley (Pieris Japonica) Lupine - appears on both lists: Seeds are the part of the plant that are the greatest problem. Madreselva (Spain) patologia renal Maya-Maya Monkhood Milkweed Mountain Laurel Nightshade- appears on both lists: Whether this is really poisonous is questionable because I have received a post saying "my goats eat nightshade all the time".  We also have a lot of Nightshade on own property and none of our goats have died from it. I tend to think it is ok in moderation. Oleander Pieris Japonica (extreamly toxic) Red Maples Rhododendron Rhubarb leaves Tu Tu (the Maori name for Coriaria arborea) Wild Cherry, -wilted- leaves (fresh and fully dried are not poisonous) Yew