# Oh Foxtails Stuck in the Mouth



## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

We have had a terrible time with Foxtail stickers this year. We mowed down what the goats would not eat.. it rained .. they grew back at short lengths. Once these get a head on them.. our goats will not usually bother them but one goat evidently felt a need to get nervous and try chewing on them I guess when we left out of town. 
When we came home.. Abelene met me looking very pathetic and showed me her swollen up lip. I tho't she had been stung. No.. in the upper pallet and under her front lip area were several foxtails imbedded making nasting stinky painful sores. I ended up dabbing some witch hazel on a pad to numb her gums and then I dug these things out ... good grief! I pulled 2 imbedded ones and unjammed several others that were stuck. Poor gal. She was good and held still. I showed her what I pulled out and she was happy to have those stickers out of there. 

Day 3 now.. she is doing fine and I am hoping I got all of these things. I hope she stops nibbling on these. I think she was just nervous when we were gone for a few days and nibbled on them as she usually will not touch any stickery foxtail


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## jbreithaupt (Jun 24, 2012)

So glad she let you get them out easily! It is great she is doing better.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Poor Girl! What a good goatie to hold still for that!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Smart little girl knew you were helping her (=


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Glad she is OK... :hug: 

Nasty foxtails...I don't like them.....


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

She is my smarty goat. But did a dumb thing nibbling on these foxtails. Evidently she didnt want to swallow them and just tried to shove them out of her mouth.. I don't know what. But she was so excited to see me when we came home to show me her swollen up face.. holding it towards me as if to say.. "help me.. I have a big problem!" It was very painful for her too and she just held there still.. I had to dig and tweezer these out.. not sure about one still! But she looks good.. no more swelling... no more nose junk. I was afraid it had penetrated deep into her pallet and up into nasal cavity. she seems ok.. and hasnt been touching them. I showed her what I pulled out with it still in the tweezers and she was very curious about that.. Animals know these things.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

She is a good goat and our herd queen. She throws some of the skinniest pencil neck goats we have.. but ... I love her so .. we keep her.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:hug: :wink:


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

I grew up in Sacramento (only blocks from the American river) and am very familiar with foxtails. Terrible weed. I would do everything possible to keep all animals away from foxtails. They can kill. My mom trained an Irish Wolfhound for a friend, whose littermate (brother) was killed when a foxtail somehow pushed itself through the dog’s skin and traveled into the heart, piercing it.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Bless her heart. I am thankful we do not really have that issue here in TN (knock on wood). I hope she continues to do well.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Wow...good job! :hi5: That sounds tricky...getting those out of her mouth...so glad you figured out the problem so quick...that must have been painful for her. Poor girl.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Foxtails are aweful terrible weeds. We have worked to rid the property of them. Easier said than done with 6 acres. We mow with the catcher on to collect the seeds. We have re-seeded areas and this has helped. California has a lot of obnoxious sticker weeds. The goats control most of these weeds well minus the foxtail. They just will not eat it. I have had several vet bills over the year with dogs. We had a dog.. a German short hair/springer that wore leather shoes for a time just to keep them out of her feet. All I have to do is mention sticker to our dog and at times she gets all psyched out and starts snorting and even will sneeze.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

Here in TX we have some nasty cacti stickers, but I think foxtails are way worse. Those little corkscrews will burrow into anything. The dog I grew up with had poodle like hair and those foxtails just clung to her. We were kind of happy she was not fond of the outdoors. They are abundant by the rivers and wilderness areas so it was best not to even bring the dog. I can see why goats would refuse to eat them. Foxtails are bad news all around.


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## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

We have had a bad time with them too. One of the barn kittens had one stuck in it's eye. There is a white spot that looks like a tornado that goes into his eye now. I got the sticker out though, it worked it's way back under the lid.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I am now checking out all the goats mouths at least once a week. I found that one of the yearlings also had some stuck in the gum area just under the lip. There is really only one area on the property that has these and they have been mowed down to 2" s high.. still they came back. Eventually they will be eliminated I hope. The goats have so far eliminated all the star thistles(they eat before they bloom to thistle stage)- all the burrs of all varieties, and all the poison oak in their fenced area.

Anyone with foxtails: Check the gum and lip area of your goats. These awful things can and will work its way into the nasal cavities.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:hug:


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## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

What are Star Thistles? They are now in our neck of the woods, but not sure what they look like.


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## jaycee (Aug 3, 2011)

This topic made me think of yesterday I had to dig a gumball from a sweet gum tree out of my Shirley's cheek. Normally they leave them alone but a few green ones fall and with the drought there is nothing else green to eat aside from occasionally falling green tree leaves. I saw her sister Laverne chew on one until she burst it open and ate it down earlier. Then I saw Shirley with her cheek stuck out in a big ball like someone chewing a round wad of tobacco. I figured she was just chewing it up but then I saw her again 15 minutes later in the barn looked the same. I had to reach in there and pull out a big green gumball she had it lodged in her cheek. She even chomped my finger with her molars and drew blood as I was pulling it out and that hurt!


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Dreamchaser said:


> What are Star Thistles? They are now in our neck of the woods, but not sure what they look like.


Start Thistles are a light pale greenish blue plant that will blossom out with bright small yellow flowers that have long needle like stickers pointing out in all directions within the flower and can get up to 3-4' high. Difficult to get rid of unless you are able to cut them with a catcher or bale them, or/and burn them. Goats will more than likely not even attempt to bother eating them once they have blossomed into sticker stage. The goats do love these plants for the high protein and nutrients in the stems. They will eat any new emerging plant down to the ground. This is how ours have been eliminated on the property. The goats eat them before they bloosom out.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

They are a cursed weed. But with the curse of these plants, they do happen to provide some of the best tasting honey in our area.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Jaycee,
That is so funny about the 'gumball' in your goats mouth. It was good that you went to retrieve it. Sorry you got your finger bit. That made me cringe as I know how those teeth are so sharp in the goats back mollars.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh....What a good goaty to let you "operate". I think I'd have to have a sumo wrestler sit on my Mindy for me to do that to her!


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