Goats like to browse like a deer. They do eat grass also. My question is with the worm issue. What is better to cut the grass in the pasture [yard] or let it grow.What is better, tall or little shorter?
we have to cut because the stuff gets so tall they can not get to the bottom. We notice they eat better when it is lower.
Thank ya'll. The wife says cut, cut, cut it. There might be snakes. I would like to allow the goats to eat.
I keep mine cut as high as my mower will cut (I believe 4 inches) and I mow their yard every 2 weeks and I have had no real worm issues. I read that the parasites can only climb to about 3inches, they climb up the blades in the morning and then go back down when the sun comes out and the dew dries.......my guys will not go out of the barn as long as the grass is wet. I do not like letting their yard get really out of control because of snakes and also weasels love long grass and we have chickens.
My doe pasture is really high. So we cut part of it thinking they might go out and browse more. When they do go out they stay in the high grass still. The perimeter is mowed with a path down the middle. This was mostly for me as I am afraid of snakes.
If you rotate pastures, it is reccomended that they be cut high 4-6 inches to eliminate old growth, which has reduced nutrients, and allow newer and more nutritious growth to emerge. Right now I am mowing or haying the pastures after I pull the goats out. The hay is old stand hay, but we supplement with crystalyx goat tubs, so this helps with digestability, or so says the experts. So I would say yes, mow after you move the goats to allow new growth to develop.
sealaywer is right about the nutritional facts. however if you have goats that are over weight (this can be applied to horses as well) you will want to leave the grass long. Goats and horses who have foundered before are more prone to founder again on cut grass. as for the parisite issue, i tend to leave my grass longer as well as the paratites tend to stay lower to the ground. beth
Beth, We leave our paddocks fallow for 45 to 90 days before we turn the herd back onto it. That is what the grass folks at Texas A&M- Overton recommend. They have recorded a decrease in the quality of the TDN and Protien after 60 days and it is past its prime at 90 days. I tend to listen to the TAMU forage specialist cuz they don't have anything better to do than count the worms in a cow pattie and photograph the blades of grass at sunrise to see which way they turn. Always hire a TAMU trained Verternarian cuz they are required to study sheep & goats for 24 class hours. The other schools may dedicate one class on them! Any how, our goats are grass fed during the year with a minimum of inputs. Just minerals and syrup tubs (crystalyx). I bought 10 sack of feed last month cuz Gwen likes to keep the Billies fed up. Our goats aren't fat, but they aren't skinny either, and I attribute this to the forages I have planted. We have sericea lespedeza, bahia, bermuda, and native grasses mixed in out pastures. We cut our own hay and usually have enough to sell. We plant legumes such as austrian winter peas and brassicas such as chicory and purple-topped turnips for the goats to munch on during the winter. We rotate every fifteen days cuz the goats would clean up these winter forages slick as a whistle and they wouldn't regrow if we didn't! Just google these forages and follow the basic guidelines for planting and grazing them. I hope this helps! :type:
