Can Goats Eat Nasturtiums?

Can Goats Eat Nasturtiums? (Are They Safe?)

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Yes, goats can eat nasturtiums safely. There is nothing toxic or dangerous in them, and your goats will in fact probably enjoy eating them quite a lot. If you are worried about your goats getting into your nasturtiums, then the answer is also yes—they will not be safe from goats.

 

So, nasturtiums are not in any way harmful to your goats, if you have been worried about them eating wild ones or ones you want to plant.

If, on the other hand, you’re worried about planting nasturtiums and them getting destroyed, then yes, you should really prepare yourself for that to happen.

Let’s look further into this.

Can Goats Eat Nasturtiums?

 

Are nasturtiums good for goats?

They aren’t really especially good in any huge way, nutritionally speaking.

They are simple flowers without a great deal of any kind of benefit that you might get from something fleshier, like fruits or vegetables.

In large quantities, the amount of fiber that a goat might get from a nasturtium could be beneficial—although they would get most of this benefit from their regular hay and forage.

But there is where nasturtiums really do make a great snack for your goats.

If you have them growing wild on your property, however rare this may be, it makes a great bit of forage for your goat to enjoy.

This will improve their enrichment, and despite what you might think, goats are not color blind.

They are often particularly attracted to flowers.

Beyond this, though, the nasturtiums are just something your goat will enjoy eating because of the excitement of going out and finding it.

There’s very little tangible nutritional benefit to speak of.

Are they bad for goats, in any way?

 

Are nasturtiums bad for goats?

Again, they’re simply too innocuous to be actively bad in any way.

They’re just simple flowers, with no toxins or anything poisonous.

While your goat could feel some digestive issues if it gorged itself on nasturtium flowers, it would have to eat a great deal more than are likely to be growing in one place.

The only issue would be if you started seeing these flowers as a replacement for their regular diet. this is not a very likely scenario, since you just can’t grow them in that quantity.

In any case, as long as you ensure that your goat is getting the variety in its diet that it needs, and nasturtiums are only an occasional treat or something it forages for, nasturtiums will cause no problems.

There are many parts to the plant, though, so which parts of it are safe?

 

Can goats eat nasturtium petals?

Yes, they can eat the petals, and these are likely to be their favorite part. as I said, goats are often attracted to colorful flowers because their vision is far from colorblind.

Again, as I have said, goats are fundamentally foragers—they need to get out and roam for things to find.

Nasturtium petals are what will attract the goat to the plant to begin with, and they will love eating them.

They may even leave the rest of the plant alone after they’ve eaten the petals.

In any case, the petals are totally safe and the most attractive part of the plant.

So what about the rest of the plant?

 

Can goats eat nasturtium stalks?

The stalks are, perhaps, the most nutritionally rich of all parts of the plant.

This is where most of the mass of the flower is in a nasturtium, since the stalks can grow so long.

The stalks are rich in fiber and may a nice, crunch snack for your goats.

In most cases, your goat will likely just inhale the whole plant, petals and stalk included.

If you consider it, though, a stalk is essentially an undried piece of hay—so, this gives you an idea of why the stalk is perhaps the best part of the flower.

The leaves, then, finally. Are they safe?

 

Can goats eat nasturtium leaves?

Yes, the leaves are perfectly safe as well.

Again, your goat is very unlikely to notice them specifically—it will just eat the whole flower in one go, most likely.

The leaves will come with the stalk.

Nasturtium leaves are entirely innocuous, very small, and indeed hard to notice.

You have nothing to fear from your goat eating any part of the nasturtium plant.

 

Ultimately, then, you’ve nothing to fear from your goats eating nasturtiums except the health of your flowerbed.

These flowers are totally safe for goats to eat without any fear, so if you’ve noticed stray wild nasturtiums on your property, then you don’t need to worry—in fact, they make great forage for your goats.

If, on the other hand, you’re worried about planting nasturtiums and them getting eaten by your goats, then the simple and reliable answer is that this is almost certainly what will happen!

 

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