# Pine trees and goats don't mix?



## newtogoats

So here is what kept me up worrying last night. The place I've envisioned for my goats is on the side of the house where I can see them, away from any dangerous plants (rhododenderons, mt. laurel, weeping cherry). It is bordered by mostly birch and beech woods, so far so good, right? But there is a huge white pine in the middle and this year there are more pine cones down then I've ever seen. The dog actually got all sticky from them and needed a bath. Pine needles fall too, of course. So if I want to keep my (future) goats here, will they nibble on these things and get their milk all resiny tasting? I'd have to rake every day this time of year to keep the pine cones away, and I'd never get all the needles. There is no other really good, clear place for them. They can spend lots of time in our woods, of course, but unsupervised time and their shed needs to be here, I think. Any ideas, experience with the pine issue? Thanks, L


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## Amy Goatress

Ours have eating pine branches but we don't usually give our pregnant girls any though but after they kidded, the kids still drank their milk though and we haven't had any yucky tasting milk either!


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## capriola-nd

Our goaties love to eat pine. . . . our neighbor has a tree that borders the property and all the needles fall down, the goats eat them just fine. It's not white pine though. . . . .


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## Julie

I throw pine needle branches in for my goats all the time. They love it, and it's good for them. Pine needles are suppose to act as a natural dewormer. I never noticed any bad flavor in the milk before ... unless I just didn't notice it because I didn't drink much of it. I used most of the milk for bottle babies I had here. 
However, I'm not sure what kind of pine needle trees my trees are, plus my goats haven't eaten the pine cones. So I can't say for sure if there's any difference with a "white pine" and/or with the pine cones.


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## newtogoats

Thank you for the replies so far. These are the really large trees, about my arms-wide in width (and they can grow that big in only about 50 years). They are quite common up here in the Catskills. I had thought that I'd read that pine needles gave a taste to the milk,and I thought with all these pine cones it might be worse, but maybe I was wrong, or maybe they won't even be interested. Or maybe I can start a new "Retsina" ( a Greek wine) flavored milk!


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## StaceyRosado

goats wont eat the pinecones, and I have never had milk taste weird because of the pine needles. 

Yes pine is a natural dewormer --- I give mine christmas trees every year and they go crazy for them.

We have only oak and pine here in the pine barrons of NJ so thats what my goats get


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## Sonrise Farm

No Pine Needles for our goats . . . we get horridly bitter milk from it. A natural dewormer? I might try that next worming time . . .


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## newtogoats

Any danger for bred does?


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## StaceyRosado

no there is no danger to bred does.


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## kelebek

Mine will go running out into the pen after a wind storm and search out the fallen pine limbs. They also get the christmas tree. It is like crack for goats! :ROFL:


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## newtogoats

Yum! Do they eat the cranberries and tinsel too?


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## sparks879

for the most part pine is fine, i assume you are talking about the christmas tree type fir and whatnot. Actual true pine trees, ponderosa pines. the kind with the long double needles and large pine cones that have the large pine nuts in them...can cause abortions in pregnant ruminants, this includes goats sheep and cows.
beth


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## newtogoats

Well, these are east coast, what I've been told are "white pines", bundled needles, long (5" or so) cones...


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## sparks879

I cant find anything saying the white pine causes abortions. As for the milk tasting off i imagine it would take quite a bit of only eating pine for it to have any effect.
beth


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## liz

I have white pine as well as blue spuce all over the place here...winter time is when I see mine eating the pie boughs...never the cones and mine haven't had any ill effects..milk was fine too.


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## Ivy

All our goats have their pens smack in the middle of our pine groves, white and red pine.
Never had a prob. Never had yukky milk. Its a no issue here.
They dont eat the cones. They love the shed needles.

The only thing I have to deal with is my Angora buck pen. The 2 Angora bucks in there use the trees to rub their horns and they try to eat them. Needless to say, the trees in their pen have the trunks all wrapped in chicken wire so the trees are not injured.


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## Epona142

This is something I was concerned with, because the property we are working on is 99% pine, the tall kind with lots of pine needles, not sure about the cones. We're clearing a bunch of the trees but not all. I've also read somewhere that pine can cause a goat to abort? :shrug:


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## liz

It depends on the "type" of pine tree...blue spruce and white pines are in abundance here and are very safe for goats...maybe try and get the specific name for the pinetree and do a search as to wether they would harm your goats.


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## alpinemom

Up here in Maine we have alot of white Pine, fir, and hemlock. My goats love the Fir, needles and bark. The Hemlock will make them sick(I was told this by a veteran goat breeder). The long needle pine is another favorite. My milk never has an off taste. I cleared a pasture for them last summer and they ate as much as they wanted.


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## sweetgoats

OH Pine is not harmful at all to the goats. I have lots of friends that have lots of pine trees and the goats love the needles. Matter of fact. people contact us, ask us to bring the goats over to eat up all the vegetation from under the trees to help reduce the chance of fires. Cashmere goats are GREAT for that.


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## short stuff farm

so I should be safe giving mine fraiser douglas fir trees? I know they love the white pine, but just want to verify the other. thanks. Happy New Year to you and your little goatie friends. :dance:


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## StaceyRosado

cant see a reason why not


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## SDK

mine love it!

just as a side note.. does anyone know if goats can have too much vitamin c? pines are high in vit C


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## kelebek

When ever we have limbs down - I gather them up and give them to the goaties - like today for instance. It is like crack for them!


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## goathappy

SDK said:


> just as a side note.. does anyone know if goats can have too much vitamin c? pines are high in vit C


I don't think they can get to much of it, pine trees would be a natural form of vitamin C so it would be more readily absorbed by the body. To much vitamin C tends to cause the runs but thats about it.


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## Di

Just make sure you are feeding "pine" and not "yew" trees. Yew are very toxic to goats, and everything else on the planet as far as I can tell! When Hubby was buying "ornamentals" to plant I was checking as we went and he had two Yew's. I was shocked when I read about them and asked him to plant them at one of the rentals (in town, so not a place were you'd have livestock). 

That said, I do feed "pine" limbs, my goats love them. I think I have a couple of folks bringing their xmas trees here after they are done with them. No tinsel please.


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## liz

I specifically do not use those pretty silver "icicles" on my Christmas tree because my girls get it after the New Year....and believe me, by the time they are done with it there is really nothing left of it to burn. Getting ready to drag it out now...though it may wait til tomorrow. BTW...I always get a fresh cut blue spruce from a "neighbor" so I know that he doesn't use any type of peticides on his tree lot.


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## Laurel_Haven

> I always get a fresh cut blue spruce from a "neighbor" so I know that he doesn't use any type of peticides on his tree lot.


I am glad you brought that up Liz. I know many people feed their goaties their X-Mas trees. And most are fine. But I had a woman call me last year in a panic because she had some very sickly goats after feeding them her tree. She had to get a vet in they got that bad. The vet told her that many trees are sprayed with a chemical to keep them fresher and greener once they are cut, and what they were now using was making alot of animals ill after being fed these certain trees. I can't remember the name of the preservative they were spraying on the X-mas trees to make them live longer once cut. But since then I don't feed them my tree no more. I know this is the time of year most are offering their trees to their goats. So please be careful to know if that X-mas tree is safe or not from pesticides and/or preservatives.


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## Futuregoatowner

I live in the Sierra Nevada California. We have tons of pine needles on the ground. Will goats help clean up the fallen needles?


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## lottsagoats1

I cut pine branches and drag them into my goats to munch on, they love them. Good source of vitamins and minerals. Yes, they get covered in pitch and have a black face. No, it doesn't make the milk taste off, usually.

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin and is very hard to overdose on. Like the B vitamins, they just pee out the excess, though, as mentioned, it can cause them to have loose poop. I have never had goats get scours from excess Vit C, no matter how much pine and other Vit C rich foods they eat.


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