Re: Plant Research ..one more thing :-)

Posted by GoatWorld on February 15, 2002 at 11:39:03:

In Reply to: Re: Plant Research ..one more thing :-) posted by Juanita on February 14, 2002 at 20:08:46:

Hi Juanita,

The only thing about Pine Trees ala Christmas trees, etc, is that while they are not immediately considered poisonous (as in the goat consumes it and then immediately shows signs of ill-health), they have been known to be what is termed an "abortifacient" to goats - there is a toxin within pine that will cause a goat to abort - high probability.

I need to go back through my notes but someone had asked me about Ponderosa Pines being poisonous. From what I found, any of the pine trees contain a certain toxin and research has shown that something like 90% of goats that consume pine will be likely to abort - even if they have eaten them quite awhile back - 6 to 7 months.

You'll see this same thing every year just after Christmas passes and people are discarding their trees. The question will come up, "can my goats eat the Christmas tree?". Next kidding season, the people that have given their goats the Christmas tree will be writing and saying that their does have aborted, they have had still-births, etc. So it is rather difficult to make the connection between the two when months have passed.

I don't think all goats will be prone to this happening - there are certainly alot of factors involved, but at least from what I have read so far, it's not a good idea to let our goats participate in Christmas by the annual consumation of the tree. Heck, I can even see some joker feeding the tree tinsel, flocking and all. LOL

Best regards,

Gary

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