Can Goats Eat Daffodils?

Can Goats Eat Daffodils? (Are Daffodils Safe For Goats?)

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No, daffodils are not really safe for goats. Any bulbous plants like daffodils or tulips pose a number of problems to goats and can, in large enough quantities, be fatal. Don’t worry if your goat got at a few daffodils, but you should take steps to avoid them having daffodils on the menu as much as you can.

 

Goats have a reputation for being able to eat virtually anything.

The truth is actually a bit different, though.

Pickiness is not uncommon, but even that aside, there are many common garden plants that can be fatally toxic to goats at worst and cause serious discomfort at best.

So, let’s examine the question in more detail.

Can Goats Eat Daffodils?

 

Are daffodils safe for goats?

So, as I said, the simple answer is no.

Daffodils and bulbous plants are toxic to goats.

Typically, if goats have everything they need in their diet, they will usually steer clear of things that pose potential risks of harm.

But, not always.

When I first had my goats, within a few months they had pulled up and eaten all of my flowerbeds.

Luckily, I had checked that everything was safe for them and they didn’t have any problems.

But many common landscaping flowers can cause harm to goats for a number of reasons.

Goats are ruminants, in the same family as deer, and daffodils pose the same problems for deer as they do for goats.

They contain an alkaloid called lycorine which makes daffodils unpalatable to a number of animals, not just goats and other ruminants.

Even hardy rodents can’t digest lycorine.

Deer, though, do often live in forests containing large numbers of daffodils without having any problems.

Goats, too, usually have good enough instincts to avoid eating things that are toxic for them if their dietary needs are being satisfied elsewhere.

This is not always the case, though; sometimes they just can’t resist.

But in order to give your goats the best chance against eating toxic daffodils, you should make sure they get a good, well-rounded diet.

They should be eating around 2-4 pounds of hay per day, and ideally, they should have a large pasture to roam and forage.

This will not only provide some extra food, it’s also an enriching activity that keeps them from getting bored.

With plenty of choice on a large pasture, as well as getting their daily needs for hay fulfilled, they should avoid daffodils without a problem.

On top of their hay and pasture, another way to make sure they aren’t bored and looking for a reason to eat your daffodils is to give them a treat a few times a week in the form of fruits and veg.

With all this on the menu, they will never get bored.

 

What flowers are poisonous to goats?

Again, despite their reputation as creatures who can eat anything, there is in fact quite a long laundry list of common garden flowers that they should not have access to.

If you have goats, there’s a good likelihood you’re an avid gardener too—most of the goat owners I know are!

But you will need to be careful of what your goats have access to.

This doesn’t just mean in terms of whether or not they’re growing on the pasture.

Sometimes, during drought, they might turn to toxic things that they would otherwise ignore. If you cut the land with a lawnmower to try and get rid of the toxic plant, you might just expose the roots which are equally toxic.

Sometimes, though, goats are just curious, and will try things that aren’t good for them.

On top of providing a good, balanced diet, you will also need to be aware of what’s on their pasture.

There are numerous examples of plants toxic to goats.

Rhododendrons, azaleas, China berries, pokeweed, sumac, nightshade, honeysuckle- there are really too many to name here.

As a goat owner with a large pasture, it’s good practice to get a reasonably good knowledge of wild plants that might grow in your pasture.

That way, you can more easily identify them and check for that plant in particular if they pose a danger.

Even if you’re a gardener and you know your plants very well, like I said, there’s a very long list of common garden flowers and plants that are potentially toxic to goats.

There are any number of reasons why this is the case—the simple fact is goats have fairly simple digestive faculties.

Their diet needs to be balanced, but not as much as ours (not that I’m suggesting you go out and eat an azalea bush).

Their digestive systems simply can’t handle a lot of the chemicals and toxins in flowering plants.

So, daffodils are not at all safe for goats and pose a number of potential problems.

Under no circumstances should you deliberately feed daffodils to your goats, and you should be very conscious of what they have access to on their pasture.

You’ll need to become at least somewhat savvy as far as identifying plants in order to give your goats the best possible protection against any mishaps.

If you’re careful, though, and provide your goat with a good diet and space to roam, it should mostly steer clear of daffodils and toxic plants.

 

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