# Tall fescue: is it bad for goats?



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Well, I bought 2 rolls of really nice hay. The guy didn't tell me till after I had paid and gotten it loaded that it was mostly fescue. (I thought I had asked him before and he said there was little or none; but since I can't remember for sure, no blame can be attached to him.)
I thought I had heard that fescue was bad for animals. When I got home I looked it up and this is what I found:
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/fescue.html
Apparently it's just tall fescue that's bad. Has anyone heard or experienced this?

It says Tall Fescue is unpalatable to goats, so I'm hoping I can determine if it's tall fescue by simply offering them some.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2011)

I have read that fescue in certain conditions can be infected with a fungal endophyte, but there is a fescue now that doesn't have that problem. It is called Max Q fescue. Depends on what kind you have in your hay.


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

I don not know the difference between tall and short fescue. The only thing I was told to be careful in the last tri-mester of my mares pregancy...do not feed fescue! The fungal endophyte will cause an abortion. I think it is the same for all livestock. If you have pregnant does, I would not feed it to them.


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## Farmgirl675 (Oct 21, 2010)

Most people producing hay know which fescue is safe and which is not and they are careful to make sure they are not baling toxic hay! Tall fescue is problematic for all livestock and is not usually tolerated in hayfeilds. If you are still worried you can take a sample of your hay to your county extension (or similiar entity) and they can identify the species of plant in your hay.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

That's cool! I just might do that.
I did notice that his horses were very healthy, the softest, silkiest horses I've ever petted. I know they eat this hay. I get the impression it's pretty much all they eat, but not sure about that.
I called him last night, and he told me it grew wild in the field; it wasn't deliberately planted. He was pretty sure it was *not* tall standard fescue. Also there's bermuda, vetch, some kind of clover, and young sage grass in the mix, so it's not just fescue.


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## goat (Sep 1, 2011)

once the fescue heads out is when the fungal endophyte is found .you can get a fescue mineral to feed to animals that are grazing of being fed fescue hay


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## Ebony Queen (Oct 8, 2011)

My goats have eaten fescue (both kinds) and none have them have gotten fungus at all.


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## Ebony Queen (Oct 8, 2011)

Of course, as should all food, the fescue should be rationed and used sparingly, you never know, mabye one goat is deathly allergic and another is immune.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

A lot of grass hay farms and pastures have fescue and generally with goats I have not heard of problems. I think pregnant mares are more prone to issues than anything, but I have fescue out on one of my horse pastures and fed my pregnant mares on it and we never had problems so I don't know. There's a lot of different opinions and info. out there on it. For me personally I wouldn't worry about feeding it to my goats. :shrug:


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice! What makes it so difficult is that there are many kinds of fescue and many degrees of endophyte content. I'm thinking it's probably okay, but I'll have 3 goats pregnant through the winter. I've decided to feed the hay to my bucks at least. Tomorrow I'll call the Extension Service and see if they can help me out.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Finally was able to talk to the Extension Service guy. He was very friendly and informative.
The basics of what he said are this:

1. Fescue is infected with an endophyte that makes the plant vigorous but causes constriction of blood vessels in animals that eat it. This is especially bad for pregnant mares.

2. There are different degrees and kinds of endophyte infection. The vigorous "wild" types are generally very infected, while Max Q has an endophyte that is fine even for pregnant mares. (I think that's what he said about Max Q - at any rate it's way better than most types, like Lilhill mentioned.)

3. I could have my hay tested for $25, but he could just about guarantee that it would be really infected, being a "wild" type.

3. While pregnant mares should not have *any* "dirty" fescue, you can offset the problems for other animals on "dirty" fescue by making 20% of their diet something else - like Bermuda hay.

4. He said he wouldn't worry at all about feeding fescue to goats. There might be decreased performance, but he didn't think there would be any serious problems.

He admitted, "I'm not the goat guy," but he gave me the "Goat Guy's" number. I've left a message and he's supposed to call me back next week.

I'm really careful about what I feed my animals, so I'm going to look into it more. I'm thinking no matter what I find out, I don't want to feed more than a very small amount to my preggo girls. I'm going to find a different kind of hay for the main part of their diet - maybe Bermuda.
I am feeding this hay to my bucks though. Based on what I've read, it can't be too bad for them. If their health goes down, I'll change back to something better.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

Glad you got some info on it. Let us know what the goat guy says.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Just wanted to thank Milkmaid for doing the homework for us.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

^ You're very welcome, Tenacross!

I talked to the "Goat Guy" this morning. He basically said:

1. Fescue affects all livestock in the same way - raises body temp, thickens placenta, etc.

2. Fescue tends to take over a lot of hayfields, at least around here.

3. Selenium or Bo-Se shot 30 days prior to kidding (I know a lot of people on here do that) tends to thin out the placenta and make kidding easier.

4. Feeding your goats minerals also helps.

5. He echoed the point that feeding a mixture of grasses, and not just fescue by itself, helps a lot.

The whole time, he gave the impression that it was not that big a problem; that fescue is around and we just have to learn to deal with it.

So there you have the information, and I hope I haven't left anything out!  

My does aren't crazy about this hay. So I think I'll feed it to my bucks and maybe a little to my does, but buy another kind of hay to mix with it.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

:hi5: Thanks so much for letting us know!! Good info. :thumb:


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