What do leafy spurge, yucca, cedar trees, and musk thistle all have in common?  Yes – they all are plants we often consider to be undesirable in our pastures.  A couple are even called noxious weeds.  And they all are difficult and expensive to spray and kill.  But they also might be a valuable, untapped resource.
   How?  Well, leafy spurge, yucca, cedar trees, musk thistle, and many other weeds and brush are the preferred feed of goats.
   Now don’t go turning off your radio.  I know many of you would never ‘lower’ yourself to grazing goats.  But maybe it’s time we reevaluate our bias and figure out how to best use our grazing lands.
   Drought will often weaken grasses and lead to an explosion in yucca, western ragweed, broom snakeweed, and all sorts of other plants cattle rarely eat.  Many other pastures have their own problems with cedars, thistles, buckbrush, and other weeds.  Spraying, digging, or bulldozing often are too expensive.  But we need to do something to save our pastures.  Fortunately, goats eat these weeds.
   Set aside your pride and think about this for a second.  Nearly all grazing operations have enough weeds to add one goat for every cow and not need to reduce cow numbers.  Many could add five to ten goats per cow.  If these goats eat your weeds, you save money on herbicides.  Fewer weeds means more grass for your cattle.  And goat kids sell for fifty to one hundred bucks apiece during the November through March holiday season.
   Save money, extra grass, and more income.  Are you too proud to even consider using goats on your land?

 

 

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Bruce Anderson
Extension Forage Specialist
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68583-0951