I was out on the pasture the other day clearing away an old tree stump.
I’ve been meaning to get round to it for so long, but it’s definitely one of those jobs that just seemed bigger the longer I put it off.
Fortunately, though, I finally got my act together and spent the afternoon uprooting it and moving it off to compost.
A lot of tender, soft, moist old bark fell off as I was removing it, and my goats came right over and started eating it—why, I wonder, would they do this?
Why do goats eat tree bark?
The simple answer is that it’s actually pretty edible to goats. It’s not the easiest thing to chew or digest, but it’s actually quite rich in minerals. Goats are browsers and ruminants, meaning they eat a pretty wide range of plant matter. That said, they shouldn’t eat too much of it.
So, by and large, there’s nothing necessarily to worry about if your goats eat tree bark.
It is something they commonly do, and when we ask why, the answer is as simple as it because it’s edible!
However, if they are eating it a lot and regularly, this could indicate there’s a lack of nutritious plants available in their pasture.
Will goats eat tree bark?
Yes, is the simple answer.
Even under the best of circumstances, even with all the best food that they could want readily available, they might still go for some tree bark.
Remember, goats are browsers, and they like to sample a wide range of things.
Tree bark, though not the most nutritious thing, is still an expansion of the menu!
That said, not all goats will, and some will certainly enjoy it more than others.
Ultimately, if you see them eating bark a great deal, then you should re-examine their overall diet. they might be going for the bark because they’re not getting sufficient nutrients elsewhere.
You should be providing your goats with a constant supply of hay, with some form of pellet, and with regular treats and snacks in the form of fruits and vegetables.
As long as your goats have all the food they need, they shouldn’t eat excessive amounts of bark.
The simple answer to why they eat it in the first place is that it tastes good—the next reason is that you aren’t feeding them sufficiently.
Do goats like to eat trees?
I don’t know about an entire tree, though a group could do away with a small tree.
The whole tree though would be a challenge for a single goat.
But, yes, goats like to eat trees.
They enjoy the crunchiness and part of the reason goats are able to digest much tougher material than we are is the fact that they are ruminants.
This means that they grind up the food they eat, swallow it, regurgitate, and grind it up some more.
Not the most pleasant image, I know, but unlike us, they don’t rely on a single round of chewing before something is ready to pass through the gut.
So, with something very tough like the bark of a tree, they can simply keep chewing until it is sufficiently ground up to pass through them.
Again, though, tree bark should be eaten in moderation.
If they are eating it to excess, then you can presume something may be lacking elsewhere in their diet.
Is tree bark good for goats?
In moderation, it can be in a couple of ways.
The first and most obvious is, as I’ve mentioned, the fact that it improves and expands their foraging menu, giving them a wider choice of available foods.
Even if they only eat a little bit, the diversity of foods will be good for their enrichment.
Beyond that, though, there are some specific health benefits.
In the layer just under the bark, there is a substance called phloem.
This is how the tree transports minerals and nutrients up and down its length, and so there’s plenty of nutritional goodness in that substance.
Trees need a lot of nutrients to keep themselves healthy, so for an animal like a goat that can actually process the bark into digestible nutrients, trees represent a great addition to their diet.
So, moderation in mind, tree bark can be very good for goats and is actually a pretty typical part of their diet.
How do I stop my goat eating trees?
Well, the first thing to say is that you don’t need to stop them entirely.
As I say, tree bark is actually quite a normal part of their diet and something they will eat regularly.
That said, the excess is the problem, and your goat eating tree bark constantly could indicate a problem with its diet.
Make sure they are getting a good range of foods.
They need a constant supply of hay, unless they have a pasture they can roam whenever they like.
That pasture needs to be quite diverse, though.
Goats will graze on grass, but they need a variety of plants.
So, making sure that the goat has everything it needs and gets a range of snacks is the best way to discourage them away from trees.
So, while your goat eating a lot of tree bark could indicate its dietary needs aren’t sufficiently met elsewhere, it also isn’t an automatic cause for concern.
Goats just do eat tree bark—it’s something they’re known for.
They’re hardy creatures with hardier digestive systems.
However, tree bark isn’t as nutritionally rich as a lot of the food you could be feeding them, and for the most part, tree bark should just be something they occasionally chew on.