are pine needles bad for pregnant does

There is a thread about that. Just recent too. If you do a search or just scroll through today's threads, you should find it.

My herd loves pine. I guess you could venture as far as they are addicted to the stuff. Haven't had any miscarriage issues, abortions, etc. Not sure on your answer though.

Mine love pine! They do get Fir and Spruce at Christmastime and are usually around 3 months pregnant and I've never had any problems

Mine eat them year round pregnant or not. So they are all used to them. If they are new to them i would maybe just slowly let them eat some every few days until their stomachs adjust and then they should be fine. I think i read somewhere that they were a natural wormer? Not sure how true that is but i just remember reading it.

Mine eat them all yr nvr have had a issue but I have read they can cause miscarriages

Its the Ponderosa Pine that can cause misscarriage...all others are fine

mimzidoat said:

Heard a while back but don't know if its true.

If so when in the pregnancy is it more dangerous?

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Ponderosa Pines are the ones you want to avoid. Their needles contain turpentine and eating them will cause abortions in bred goats, and cattle at least. As far as I know, all other pine trees are ok.

All pine trees have some level of toxicity in them. But as mentioned Ponderosa is a well known one for high levels. Yew's are also a forum of evergreen that are deadly toxic. But for the most part, the levels in other ones are so low as to not cause any issues. We pick up all the left over Christmas trees from a Rite Aid and feed em to the goats ever year... upto 100 of em in a bad year for sales.

Never had a problem with any of mine eating pine, pregnant or not. They love them! White pine is the most common. I also feed fir, spruce and hemlock.

It is okay to give pregnant does a limited amount of pine needles... too much can cause miscarriage as pine needles have a lot of vitamin C.

This is an old thread.

But yes, in moderation of course.

My girls love white pine, they cant wait to see those boughs bending in a storm because they know some will be breaking with fresh snacks. Neighbor who has meat goats claim its a great natural wormer, I have no idea if thats true.