# blackberries high in Calcium



## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

I seen this posting on Craigslist. And thought I would get people that know wethers thoughts on it.
I did do a search and yes the blackberries themselves are high in calcium. But could not find what nutritional values are on
the vines. Other than high in fiber.
Yet it is my understanding that it is the phosperous that is the
culprit not the calcium. So many Vets do not know goats
at all it really makes me wonder. 
Sorry I just can not afford to have every bale of my hay tested and now brambles too.
(hay is gotten from various distributors)



> Anyone with pet wethers, bucks, pack goats, etc may be interested in the following information.
> 
> I have a pet wether who got urinary calculi (stones). The wonderfull staff at OSU large animal vet hospital saved his life & he is now recovering from surgury and doing very well. His stones are thought to be caused by too much calcuim in his diet (i will get the lab analysis back in a few weeks). He had been on a grass hay/no grain diet to try prevent stones. He was also allowed to eat lots of blackberry vines & pasture grass. The vet told me that blackberry plants are really high in calcium which is something I did not know . I had done alot of research about feeding wethers (and bucks) to prevent stones becuase I had lost one to this condition when I was younger & did not want that to happen again. I know their diet should have a 2:1 to 2.5:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio, but I had not read anything about blackberry plants having a high calcium content. I just wanted to share this info with other goat owners since many people use wethers for blackberry control. It might be best to leave the blackberry eating job to the does (who still can get stones, but are typically able to pass them without any problems). Or at least you will have the info so you can make adjustments to their diet to try and correct the calcium phosphorus ratio if they are going to be consuming blackberries.
> 
> Too much phosphorus in the diet can cause stones too so you have to be very careful with feeds containing high levels of phosphorus as well. I am not a vet or animal nutritionist, but I wanted to pass the info I received along to other goat owners. You should contact your vet for advice on the best feeds to give your animals.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1848/2

Here is the mineral content of the BLACKBERRIES. 
Not the vines.
This year the blackberries had a lot of berries on them.
Tons!


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## TOU (Aug 18, 2013)

Interesting...as a kid, our milking does ate these all the time...it was half the reason we had them. (No wethers) They loved these almost more than anything else an neighbors always wondered how we controlled the blackberry brambles in our fields.


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