Feeding Goats

I suppose you can tell that I really like goat pictures? We have a lot of fun going down to give the goats their nightly treats. See how they're standing up against the gate? The gate that we have to get through in order to give them their treats? It's always a bit of a balancing act...trying to open and squeeze through the gate without letting the pressure of their weight push it open too far.

We think we could get them back in with a handful of sweet feed (otherwise known as 'goat opium'), but we don't want to put it to the test.



They love carrots, but the real crowd-pleaser is weeds. Only certain kinds of weeks, though -- ragweed is a big winner, for example. When we first got the goats, I was worried that they'd eat all the native plants I wanted to see down around the pond, but they really are very selective about which plants they'll eat.



This plant, for example, we've just identified as wild senna. It's a native plant -- so we read on the Internet -- that the native Americans introduced to the European explorers.



We have several plants of it growing in the pond pasture, and the goats haven't touched it.



The Internet says parts of it are a powerful laxative, and that most grazing animals avoid it.

Always nice to know we have smart goats...