# Toxic Mushrooms



## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

I don't really know much about mushrooms, other than in a survival situation it is best to just never touch them, since so many edibles have toxic, lookalike copycats. On that note, do goats 'know' not to eat a poisonous mushroom? Do they leave mushrooms alone?

I ask because a bunch of mushrooms popped up overnight in my goat pens. Before I let them out of their shelter, I removed every one I could find. I guess I am afraid they could eat them. I'm not sure what type they were. It is so odd that the mushrooms appeared there, since it is a well drained sandy soil in full sunlight (the only shade is man made shade). I found mushrooms elsewhere on the property, in similar, sunny, sandy places. I also can't seem to find much information regarding livestock and mushrooms.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would think they wouldn't touch it but I would remove them too. Just saw on the news that many people are getting sick from mushrooms. I wonder if the drought conditions have anything to do with it?


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## Shellshocker66 (Mar 19, 2012)

Not a goat, but a sheep gal I knew told me a story of the "magic mushrooms"...

So she notices one of her ewe's is acting very strange, she immediately starts thinking all the bad illnesses as this ewe is running in circles, falling over, and running into trees.. As she is preparing to go out with her medical kit, she notices her ram come up and doing the same behavior... One by one more sheep come up from one area acting very strange and she walks out to where they are congregated eating (the ones not having a trip yet). They are all eating the variety of mushroom that grows nicely here in Oregon and gives one heck of a psychedelic experience. Guess it took till the next day for her herd to return to normal and not falling all over the themselves after she cleared out as many of the shrooms as she could find.

So my goats I've not seen them interested in any mushrooms when I found them in spring. It's still very dry here and we've not seen rain since early summer so I will have to keep an eye on the pasture when it greens up again. I also have some new gals that may not have ever encountered a mushroom before, so will have to keep an eye on them. 

So if sheep will eat mushrooms I'm wondering if goats will of that variety?


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