# What Are the Benefits of Feeding Almond Hulls to Goats?



## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

We are from Northern Ca. where there are a lot of Almond Orchards. We know of a lot of people who feed their Boers almond hulls. I am curious how many have supplemented their goats with almond hulls and what benefits come from this. We know of people who give it to Buffalo herd as a natural wormer. If that is true, I was wondering if it works for goats?


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Wow.. so I guess it must be rarer than I at first thought to find people that give almond hulls to their goats. Is there anyone out there that has heard of doing this?


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

I heard peach and cherry pits were poisonous to goats, and that i shouldn't feed them branches from any 'pit' fruits. I know peach pits have small amts of cyanide, so maybe it kills worms? Personally I wouldn't do it.


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

I have no idea, but why don't you ask the goat owners there that feed it? Then get back to us with the answer


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well, we have been told by those who give them hulls that it was a good available and healthy supplement that is from the almond farms around Northern CA but that is all anyone seems to say. It is even put in some of the feed for goats. I have been afraid to use them. They look dirty and dont really look like something healthy but if they have good healthy things in them, I may not want to miss out on it. I just cant find out what is in them easily. When we first heard of people doing this, we didnt think to ask what was so good and cant find anyone who knows what is in them. I was hoping to get other opinions from people who might know more about almond hulls. I don't think that the hulls have cyanide in them like the pits do but I have been wondering about more info on this.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositor ... -59109.pdf


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

That is an interesting article, thanks for finding it Goathiker. Looks like people feed it because it is cheap and don't know it has no nutritional value other than sugar and potassium. Doesn't sound like a very good idea. If it works as a wormer I would wonder why, and how much of it.

Jan


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

If you can get it free or cheap...and it is mold free...watch that....give it as a treat... I do during the harvest season...

I live in Northern Cali...and I have a neighbor that shakes his tree's... the goats love it....he even put a row especially for the goats.. so it would drop on our side of the fence(of course he asked first) :wink: also... we will get a barrel full of them and feed it as a treat....here and there.... We have been doing this for years....
I see it as good... of course with moderation of anything new....
here is a good site....
http://www.mangangroup.com.au/public/?p=3


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

lissablack said:


> That is an interesting article, thanks for finding it Goathiker. Looks like people feed it because it is cheap and don't know it has no nutritional value other than sugar and potassium. Doesn't sound like a very good idea. If it works as a wormer I would wonder why, and how much of it.
> 
> Jan


yes, thanks for the article Goat Hiker. It was very informative. If they are full of potassium and a goat needs some potassium, they just might like to have some once in a while. It's the outside of the almond, not the actual hard shell. This is interesting to find this out.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

toth boer goats said:


> If you can get it free or cheap...and it is mold free...watch that....give it as a treat... I do during the harvest season...
> 
> I live in Northern Cali...and I have a neighbor that shakes his tree's... the goats love it....he even put a row especially for the goats.. so it would drop on our side of the fence(of course he asked first) :wink: also... we will get a barrel full of them and feed it as a treat....here and there.... We have been doing this for years....
> I see it as good... of course with moderation of anything new....
> ...


Wow! Thanks so much Pam. I really loved reading the article as it was a very nice read. I would think that if a goat loves them, then perhaps they might need something that is in them. I would think the potassium and sugar is good if that is what is in them and they dont get too much! We had some feed that we bought a year ago that had these mixed in the bag from Richfield Feed in Corning. I thought they were dried apricots at first. One of our does hated the almond hulls and would not eat them at all. She left them and ate around them but she does love acorns in her field.
Thanks so much for the information. It has been good to read these things. Thank you everyone.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> Wow! Thanks so much Pam. I really loved reading the article as it was a very nice read. I would think that if a goat loves them, then perhaps they might need something that is in them. I would think the potassium and sugar is good if that is what is in them and they dont get too much! We had some feed that we bought a year ago that had these mixed in the bag from Richfield Feed in Corning. I thought they were dried apricots at first. One of our does hated the almond hulls and would not eat them at all. She left them and ate around them but she does love acorns in her field.
> Thanks so much for the information. It has been good to read these things. Thank you everyone.


 :thumbup: You are so welcome.... glad to of helped... sorry it took so long to find your post... :greengrin:


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

Thanks everyone for all the info as I too have wondered about this. There was a commercial goat dairy near us and I know they fed tons of almond hulls to their goats for winter feed. (Cheap and filling is my guess.) I think we may try to find some and see if our goats will even eat them.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:thumbup:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I think that some of these things have micro-nutrients in them that they can't measure yet. Like with alfalfa, you can get the same levels of nutrients with other things but, you won't get the same bloom on your animal without it. Also kelp, some of the nutrients in it are barely there but, it's so good for them where they need it. Perhaps the almond hulls have a trace mineral or amio acid that they haven't found.
At a class with an herbalist last week, she said that it's best to eat and use things that are readily available in your area. Something about your body being adapted to where it grew up. So, it would be natural for my Oregon Coast goats to eat kelp, beach plum, shore grass, all things they love. It would be natural for Califonia goats to eat fruits, nuts, sandy soil grasses, etc.


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

goathiker said:


> It would be natural for Califonia goats to eat fruits, nuts, sandy soil grasses, etc.


You know how sometimes when you skim things you read it as completely different? I read it as fruit, nuts, CANDY....... and i was like :shocked:


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well our goats are getting almost too fat now and I have cut way back on their food. They are roaming the property eating something-either the star thistle nubs or who knows what??? If you saw our dry lifeless property, you would say.."What are they getting fat on?" I think they have been eating lots of acorns. They are not bloated but have been getting fat. We worried about this at first because some people have said that acorns were bad for goats. If that is true, then we can not have goats because our property is mostly dry oaks and some of the trees (not all) are loaded with acorns that drop this time of year. We may not need to get almond hulls but if they came to me free or cheap and they were good for the goats... you bet I would take them.


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

Yes, I have heard that about oak. Guess your goats didn't read the book. We were told black locust was bad but our goats ate all of our trees with no ill effects.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Ha ha .. well I guess they can adapt more than we thought.


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## goatylisa (Dec 29, 2012)

*almond hulls*

I was roaming the internet looking for information on almond hulls after another goat owner told me about them.I stumbled on this site and joined. He feeds them the almond hulls from Vanella Farms without feed supplements and he has a small dry lot. He also feeds his cows the same thing. The supply from Vanella Farm Store has leaves and small branches mixed in. The goats thrive on the rough foliage. I am going to slowly incorporate maybe a morning feeding and see how it goes. Here is a promising article on mixing the feed rations
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/ca306p10-71376.pdf

I'll let you all know how it goes, with the price of hay I'm really looking for alternative feed sources.


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## goatylisa (Dec 29, 2012)

*my goats love it*

I have been supplementing one feeding for the hulls, they go crazy for it. They absolutely love it over any other feed. I can see they have gained weight too. It's very inexpensive but I'm having problems judging the quantity each goat gets. I was told one pound per goat, well some eat twice as fast as the others and they will try to push out the slow eaters. So that is something I'm working on but other than that I am so happy to have found out about the hulls.

It's not just hulls, there are twigs and leaves too, it's all eaten, nothing wasted like hay.


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