Can Goats Eat Lychee?

Can Goats Eat Lychee? (Answered!)

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The answer is that ripened lychee in small amounts will be fine for your goat, but unripe lychee can be very dangerous for anything that eats it, including goats. You must be very careful that the lychee you want to feed to your goat is sufficiently ripe, otherwise you are likely to have problems.

 

So, this is the basic answer, and I will get into more detail about the difference between ripe and unripe lychee.

First of all, though, you may even be wondering, what exactly is a lychee?

Can Goats Eat Lychee?

What is a lychee?

A lychee is not a very commonly consumed fruit in the western world.

As I said, it was rather novel for me being able to purchase lychee at my local greengrocers.

So, you might be wondering what they are and where they come from.

Lychee are a small, round fruit with sweet, white flesh, with a tough outer skin and a very large central stone.

They are native to China, and records of the cultivation of lychee trees go back as far as the 11th Century.

They are a highly recognizable little red fruit with a very rough skin, similar in appearance to jackfruit, although much smaller.

The trees require a tropical climate, with very high summer heat, rainfall and humidity.

So, naturally, they have been more popular in parts of the world where it easier to grow them.

 

Is lychee good for goats?

Prepared in the correct way, lychee can be a great treat for your goat.

As I said, the main thing to be aware of is the lychee’s ripeness.

Unripe lychee is harmful to almost anything.

The main way to identify the ripeness of a lychee is by its skin.

Unripe lychee will have darker, duller skin, usually in a greenish brown pigment.

They will also be very hard to the touch.

Ripe lychee will be bright and pink or red, and will feel firm and springy.

Ripe lychee is very sweet and very high in sugar.

Even when ripe, you should remove the stone and chop up the lychee before giving it to your goat.

Your goat could easily choke on the stone.

This is one of the main problems potentially posed to goats by lychee, especially as it’s a food they will be unfamiliar with.

They may just try and wolf down the whole thing in one go, in which case they are at very high risk of choking.

If you remove the stone and ensure you have a very ripe lychee, it will make a great treat for your goat.

You must monitor the amount of lychee you include in its diet, however, as it is very high in sugar and could cause health issues if overfed.

Make it an occasional treat for your goat.

 

Why is unripe lychee bad for goats?

Before lychee ripen properly, they contain toxins that can cause a number of issues in most animals.

The toxins present in unripe lychee can cause extremely low blood sugar in animals, and this can lead to severe changes in cognitive function.

In Southeast Asia, eating unripe lychee has come to be associated with inflammation of the brain in humans, and the toxins present which cause these issues can cause equal problems for goats.

It is said sometimes that unripe lychee is only particularly dangerous if you eat it on an empty stomach.

Again, this is about humans, but ultimately you should just extend this caution to your goats and avoid feeding unripe lychee to them.

There are not many fruits which it is dangerous to feed your goat, as you will probably know they are prolific browsers and will hunt far and wide for anything that looks good to them.

This means that their digestive systems are reasonably robust, and will put up with most things they’re likely to find.

Just be very careful if giving your goat lychee that it is ripe.

 

What are the benefits of ripe lychee for a goat?

When eaten fresh and ripe, lychee offer a number of helpful benefits.

They contain several healthy vitamins like vitamin C, and antioxidants such as potassium and copper.

These minerals can keep your goat healthy and prevent against heart problems.

It’s also very important that your goat gets a good, balanced diet.

Fresh fruit will make up a small part of that, and lychee are likely to be very popular with your goats.

The flesh is easy for them to digest, they’re very sweet and indeed will be an exciting and exotic treat for a goat.

That said, it is always important to keep moderation in mind.

A goat’s diet should be made up mostly of fibrous hay and grasses, and only fed fruit in moderation.

A good way to give your goats some fruit is via kitchen scraps (minus avocado and cherries, both of which are very dangerous for goats).

If you have some lychee at home, compost some of it for your goats as a treat, they will thank you!

So, to wrap up, then, goats can certainly eat lychee.

The main thing you need to be careful of is the ripeness of the lychee, as while ripe lychee is a great addition to your goat’s diet, unripe lychee can cause a number of problems for goats and humans.

Furthermore, the large stone present in lychee fruit can pose a potential choking hazard to your goat, so you must be sure to remove this before giving the lychee to your goat.

All that in mind, lychee makes a great treat for a goat.

 

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