# keeping the goats from eating the bark of trees..Any Ideas??



## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

I have dairy and boer goats, and 1 deer, and they are eating the bark off my maple tree in the back yard. short of putting wire around it, which would be tricky because of all the branches and limbs that are pretty low, I was wondering if anyone knew of something I could brew up to put on the tree to keep them from eating the bark. 
Or do they sell anything that would work???
This tree is in my back yard and all the trees have wire around them but this one was hard to wire.
thanks.
Deb


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

hot sauce might work.


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## Sybil (Dec 21, 2007)

I have heard "manure" tea painted on.
Sue


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## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

I thought about that, or cayanne pepper mixed with water and spray on the tree? My hubby just cut down one of the limbs that they chewed all the way around so they are eating the leaves right now, maybe it is just the distraction so I can try to put something on the tree!!!
I have been thinking of things that taste nasty...!!!!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yes it has to coat the entire part of the tree they can reach


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## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

I've taken buckets of goat manure mixed with water and spread it thickly around the trees and they won't chew on them. Only problem is if you're in a moist environment or too dry it won't last.


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

cayenne (sp) pepper doesnt work for me, they love it! they lick it right off the leaves. :roll:


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## Sybil (Dec 21, 2007)

I have never used the manure tea. If there were any trees I didn't want killed I would use chicken wire around them. The goats can take bark off mature fir trees! The llamas will ring trees too!


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## Potemkyn (Nov 29, 2007)

We're using welded wire, but it's the plastic coated stuff so you have to go around twice. I hope the maple tree survives, they did a number on it.

Mike


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## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

I wondered about cayenne pepper to, my milk goat ate an onion today! I am glad I am not milking her yet, she is nursing twins! I bet that milk tastes spunky!!
I was thinking about wrapping chicken wire around it, but didn't want something that would grow into the tree. I am putting a fence up soon, but so far we just have a fence kinda around the tree, temporary.


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## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

Wire is tricky unless you can get it on there right and that the holes aren't big enough that they can nibble through it cause they will. Sometimes they push the wire to the tree and chew that way.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yah I was going to suggest that if you put wire around a tree you place spacer boards between the tree and the wire. Make sure the wire is TIGHT so that they can push it towards the tree. Remember as the tree grows the wire grows up with the tree.

Another way is to fence off an area around the tree so that they cant even get with in 3-5 feet of the tree.

wire worked for a little while on the trees for us but eventually they learned how to eat below the wire (as the tree grew) and between the wire. goats are way to smart :angry:


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

What I did last year was I went to the local fabric store and I bought burlap and i put that around it. If you have old burlap bags that would work also, but it worked great.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

thats a great idea Lori! I never would have thought of that :idea:


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## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

burlap might work for the goats, but I am afraid the deer would eat through that! She is quite the nibbler!!!
I think she may have been the one who started on the tree, went out one day and there was a big strip hanging partially off the tree, it was about 2 feet long, and maybe 4 or 6 inches wide, just like they started pulling and just pulled the bark away in one log piece, of course they ate it.
I still want my hubby to fence the whole area off and give me a small bit of back yard, he likes the animals roaming all over the property, we have a goat that even tries to come inside, she has been in a few times, my hubby thought it was funny. We don't have carpet, so I thought it was funny too!!!!
Eventually this is the part of the yard where my deck is going to go and I don't think I want the goats eating the deck. I am sure they will try.


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## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

My goats would probably chew the burlap too. I think its the lack of forage that bores them. I mean even grass is something to entertain them with than a dry lot. I hate having a dry lot. We had a beautiful blanket of green coming in this spring but the drought completely killed all of that off and even the grass in our yard. Uh!

We do have lots of lush green kudzu but its the fencing it in part that's so hard. I mean its so dense that running a fence is a huge chore.


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## zatsdeb (Jan 20, 2008)

my goats get hay once a day for roughage, and they get sticks, and keep the low hanging branches of the many trees (that have fences around them!!) trimed quite well. They sure loved the big limb that was cut off my poor chewed up tree, and they are still working on the smaller sticks. 
I think maybe it came to them after a year of walking past that tree, that maybe they could just try a nibble....!


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## prairiewolf (Oct 17, 2007)

Maybe a product like chew-stop (made too keep horses from chewing on wood) would work?


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## Nutcase911 (Apr 2, 2021)

Window screen works great, buy a big roll





zatsdeb said:


> I have dairy and boer goats, and 1 deer, and they are eating the bark off my maple tree in the back yard. short of putting wire around it, which would be tricky because of all the branches and limbs that are pretty low, I was wondering if anyone knew of something I could brew up to put on the tree to keep them from eating the bark.
> Or do they sell anything that would work???
> This tree is in my back yard and all the trees have wire around them but this one was hard to wire.
> thanks.
> Deb


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

This is an old thread.
But good suggestion.


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