Do Goats Eat Knapweed?

Do Goats Eat Knapweed? (Answered!)

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Goats will eat knapweed if they find it. Goats are very attracted to flowers, and the bright colors of flowering knapweed are bound to draw them in. You have nothing to worry about, though—they are not affected in any negative way by knapweed.

 

So, yes, goats will eat knapweed.

In fact, they eat it so much that they are often employed in removing it from the land where it has taken over.

Goats have a reputation for being able to eat just about anything, and when it comes to plant matter, this is largely true.

Knapweed is safe and harmless for them, so you’ve nothing to worry about if you see knapweed growing.

Let’s look further into this.

Do Goats Eat Knapweed?

 

Is knapweed poisonous to goats?

No, it isn’t.

Knapweed is notorious for causing issues for us—especially when it dries out. common knapweed contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which break down under dry and hot conditions and give off toxic products.

Even if they’re only being handled, and not consumed, there is evidence linking knapweed to liver damage and even cancer.

For goats, though, and indeed most livestock like horses, cattle and sheep, knapweed is no problem.

Goats, in particular, love knapweed, and will ravenously devour any they find on your homestead.

As I mentioned, knapweed can be a big problem due to how invasive it is.

For this reason, goats are often brought in to eliminate it from pastures.

This doesn’t always work, as it can just spring back even after being destroyed.

But it goes to show that it’s perfectly safe for them.

If you find knapweed on your pasture, just let your goats have at it.

They won’t get sick at all, and they might even eliminate it from the homestead.

Most of the time, it will come back, but your goats will do a good job of keeping it in check.

If you like the look of the flowers, this might even be a beneficial relationship!

Your goats get food, and you occasionally get some pretty blooming wildflowers on your pasture.

But there is more than one kind of knapweed.

 

Can goats eat spotted knapweed?

Spotted knapweed is a little different, but it’s no different for goats.

They can eat it just the same, and again goats are often used to remove spotted knapweed from invasion sites.

The spotted knapweed is native to eastern Europe, where it is often removed by herds of goats.

So, again, if you’ve got spotted knapweed on your property, let your goats at it and they might remove it before it becomes a problem.

Spotted knapweed, in the right climate, can be a considerably bigger problem than ordinary knapweed, though.

So, in most cases, your goats won’t be able to completely eliminate it.

Are all parts of the knapweed plant safe, though?

 

Can goats eat knapweed flowers?

Yes, goats can eat the flowers of the knapweed plant.

Indeed, this is likely the part that will attract them to it in the first place.

Despite what you might think, goats are not colorblind, and they use this color vision to find tasty plants.

That said, the flowers themselves aren’t especially nutritious.

They are fibrous, but they will probably have overall more benefit as something exciting to forage, rather than anything of real nutritional benefit.

In any case, the flowers are totally safe, and don’t contain anything harmful that your goats won’t like.

What about the rest of the plant?

 

Can goats eat knapweed stems?

Yes, they can eat the knapweed stems.

The stems will be somewhat more nutritious than the flowers, again mostly in fiber—which is what will make up most of a goat’s diet, anyway.

What goats do, though, when they’re eating something like knapweed, is to just eat every bit of it that they can see.

When they’ve eaten a considerable amount, they may have gotten a good meal out of it.

This might not sound like the most efficient way to feed, but this is why goats and similar animals spend a great deal of their time eating.

It takes them longer to get their nutrients than it does for us.

Finally, what about the leaves?

 

Can goats eat knapweed leaves?

Yes, the leaves of the knapweed plant are perfectly safe, too.

The leaves are probably not even going to register for the goat, though—they’re very small and, again, essentially nutritionally void unless the goat eats a large quantity.

But, again, they’re perfectly safe, containing nothing toxic or harmful.

So you don’t need to worry about letting your goats at it.

 

So, yes, the bottom line is your goats can and will eat knapweed if they find it.

It’s not the most nutritious food in the world, but the act of being out and foraging for food is enrichment in and of itself.

If you have knapweed growing on your pasture, it can actually be notoriously difficult to get rid of—except with the help of your goats!

 

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