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Okay so it has been awhile since i have posted but I am going through with it this time come spring. I now own land in a very country area surrounded by thousands of acres of State Forest and will be building a shelter for them and I am in a field so in lies my question. I have trees around my land and am wondering any suggestions on the best tree for leave or bud browsing? There is grass as well. I plan to daily cut young branches for the guys to feed when at the homestead and when hiking around in the mountains at a longer camp site..
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Wide leaf maple, vine maple, dog wood, service berry, alder, birch, aspen, and ash.
For evergreen nibbles my boys like hemlock, cedar, fir, locust, many different kinds of pine trees.
Where in the country are you located? My boys eat these trees in the North-West
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Hazelnut. You might also want to think about planting hedges around your paddocks. They grow/re-grow faster than trees.
Do you own the trees? In Austria there were so-called Hutewälder/Hutebäume = parts of forest or single trees cultivated for yearly taking out the new shoots for winter browsing. One would collect the shoots with leaves in summer, dry them and feed the leaves to lifestock during the winter.
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Sabine from Germany
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I am in Northern, Pennsylvania. Lots of foliage. So goats can pretty much eat anything I reckon. I have some spruce I believe on my land and young birch trees. We will be hiking around a lot. Being a person who chooses not to live with a full time job and constant cash I am going to let them feed themselves freely a lot while working in the woods and doing whatever. We have all of the listed besides probably aspen. Lots of hemlock though in the bottoms and creek valleys. I own some of the trees. I am on my own land that I still allow a farmer to plant his corn around my shack site so am going to make sure he is cool with browsing and some firewood cutting. Thanks for the replies. I tried re-finding the thread but thought I had fudged up the first post.
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Hello Wordman
I am at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains here in the Piedmont of South Carolina.
My boys free range and eat any kind of brush they can get to. Pine trees are a treat.
We have a lot of Glove Poplar and low growing scub brush here. One of the reasons I got back into goats. Brush Clearing, More or less Self feeding, and as BOV for part of my Prepper Plans.
As well as the fact that they are just fun to have around. There is never a dull moment when working outside.
Happy Trails
hihobaron
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Very cool. I love that they are self contained more than shoe needing horses or mules. Get around better and are more easiley transported and cant kill ya if ornery and decide to come at ya. Im digging with all resources to acquire a good packer. Im finally ready mentally and a land owner. I will have some happy nomadic goats.
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