MOW YOUR PASTURES

Goats are not pasture animals. They are foragers/browsers, like deer. They need to eat "from the top down," eating weeds and leaves, to avoid stomach worms that exist as much as eight (8) inches above ground level. Goats can digest leaves more readily because of the net venation of the leaf structure. Grasses have veins parallel to the stem which are much harder for goats to digest.

Some goat raisers who have pasture but lack forage/browse think they can offer tall grasses to their goats and keep them from contacting stomach worms. Not accurate. Goats will go to ground level for the newest and most tender plant material, right where the worms are. As grasses grow, taller, the tips get less palatable and less digestible to goats.

Pastures that have tall grasses tend to stay wet at ground level, increasing the exposure to worms, pasteurella, and other organisms. Mow your pastures to about eight (8 ) inches in height so that the underlying ground dries out.

When I lived in West Texas, we had an unusually wet spring. The goats were enjoying the greenery. I allowed one pasture containing 15 Tennessee Meat Goat™ bucks to grow tall. Every one of them contracted pasteurella pneumonia, even though I had vaccinated everyone against it. I treated them and they appeared to get well, but the problem became chronic. Over the next 18 months, every one of them slowly died. I wasn't sure what was happening. I verified it wasn't worms. My vet necropsied the last goat at GoatCamp™ and discovered pasteurella abscesses in his lungs.

Because I didn't mow the tall grasses, the ground never dried out, setting up conditions that resulted in pasteurella pneumonia abscesses that killed 15 top-quality Tennessee Meat Goat™ bucks. An expensive loss and my fault.

Improper management is almost always the cause of problems with goats. Analyze every decision you make before you put it into effect. THINK LIKE A GOAT.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas 9.1.25

The author, Suzanne Gasparotto, hereby grants to local goat publications and club newsletters, permission to reprint articles published on the Onion Creek Ranch website under these conditions: THE ARTICLE MUST BE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND THE AUTHOR'S NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REPRINT. We would appreciate notification from any clubs or publications when the articles are used. (A copy of the newsletter or publication would also be a welcome addition to our growing library of goat related information!)

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