# Toxicity of Tall Fescue



## tolan3937 (Apr 14, 2015)

Hey everyone! I am new to this forum and haven't quite figured out the site yet, so I apologize if this question has already been asked--haven't found a search tool yet. My wife and I just bought a house on 1.3 acres zoned for agriculture. We really want to get goats soon, but want to make sure we set up the right environment for new goats before we do.

The house was recently remodeled and the builder cleared all the undergrowth and left all the mature vegetation, which left a great backyard and pasture with sunny and shady areas. In place of the undergrowth, tall fescue was planted in the front yard and back yard up to the edge of a small outdoor barn--leaving a good size yard for our dogs. Past the barn there is approximately 3/4 acre of pasture. 

We plan on fencing in the entire property with a separating fence along the line of the fescue and pasture. The fescue area will be used for our dogs and the pasture area behind the barn/fence will house the goats. I plan on planting a pasture mix for the goats, as well as feeding them hay and additional supplements (any additional suggestions here are welcome).

From what I have read, tall fescue is poisonous to goats; however, I am not sure to what degree. From what I understand, some things labeled poisonous for goats are far from deadly and might instead just give them an upset stomach, to which goats would learn to avoid if given a good supply of edible food.

Naturally, there might be some times when our goats have the opportunity to graze on some of the tall fescue. Would this hurt them badly, or would this be relatively safe? I could replant the back lawn to a more suitable grass, but that would come at an added expense. Does this setup sound okay?

Any suggestions would be great! 

Thanks!
John


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Here is an article on Tall Fescue specific to goats. It's not something I would risk myself given a choice. http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/fescue.html


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## tolan3937 (Apr 14, 2015)

Thanks for the article! That does sound pretty bad.

Is there a lawn that you would recommend? It would be used primarily by my family and our dogs so we want something green, soft, and hearty, but also don't want to have to worry about the occasional graze if we let our goats in the "family" area.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Orchard grass and Kentucky blue grass. Make sure they are for pastures and not lawns.

There are other grasses you can use too. Talk to your extension office.


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## tolan3937 (Apr 14, 2015)

Kentucky blue grass seems like a good option. However, if my goats are kept in the pasture planted with a safe grazing grass, is there much risk in having fescue in my backyard? They would only be in my backyard area occasionally and under supervision. They might have the opportunity to nibble at the fescue some, but it sounds like fescue poisoning only occurs when the fescue is being used as their primary grazing grass, which is not the case here.


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## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

Where I live, tall fescue is the most widely-grown grass and 90% of hay is fescue. Our own yard/pasture is a hodge-podge of different grasses, including tall fescue. I don't feed fescue hay, but I can't do much about the fescue in the pasture area right now other than seed over it as we go. However, I will tell you that the tall patches of grass they don't touch are always fescue while the ones they eat with pleasure are the bermuda, clover, everything else. I don't think you'll have a problem if they occasionally eat a bit of your yard as long as they have plenty of other options.


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## Matadequin (Mar 23, 2015)

Wow, I had hear of tall fescue being dangerous to pregnant horses but I didn't realize it could be so toxic to goats as well. There's some of it around the margins of our property so I'll have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't spread too much into our pasture area.


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