# Goats and bamboo.



## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Well it is actually called cane around here but looks just like bamboo....
Anyway,can goats eat it,or better yet,should goats eat it?

If so,should we try growing some to use as feed source?


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Great question! Looks like you might have stumped everyone...I can at least bump it up for you  I have No Clue if they can eat it or not.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

I have read that goats WILL eat it,I am just wondering if they should.

And bamboo is pretty easy to grow.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

I wish I could remember the site that I read it from, but it said that there are a lot of places that are using bamboo to feed goats and cows on. They don't eat the full size bamboo, but mostly the new ones coming up. There's a certain kind of bamboo though that makes better forage than the others. Wish I could remember where I read that. Sigh. If I find it, I'll post it or you just might google using bamboo as forage for goats. It might turn up something. I just remember reading about it and then thinking I ought to try and grow some here for these guys.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

This isn't the site I read, but it does list bamboo as edible. 

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Here's an old HT thread on that very thing.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/archive/index.php/t-286487.html


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Yes, it is a good food source for goats.


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## CarolT (Mar 12, 2009)

We're trying to keep ours from getting to it until it gets established well enough to stand up to them LOL They absolutely love it and I like that if they get loose, they go for the bamboo rather than my rosebushes now


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

CarolT said:


> We're trying to keep ours from getting to it until it gets established well enough to stand up to them LOL They absolutely love it and I like that if they get loose, they go for the bamboo rather than my rosebushes now


Maybe I need to plant bamboo around my fruit trees to keep them away from those!


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Bamboo and kudzu are both not only edible for goats, but also healthy for them. I found that out when researching ways to feed my goats.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Sonshine said:


> Bamboo and kudzu are both not only edible for goats, but also healthy for them. I found that out when researching ways to feed my goats.


Not planning to introduce Kudzu to our place,we luckily do not have it here on our land.

But I had read of people hiring out their goats to eat the kudzu,seems like a good natural way of getting rid of it.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

Be careful about planting bamboo. There are some types that are about as difficult to get rid of as kudzu and it takes over an area crowding out everything else.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

CesumPec said:


> Be careful about planting bamboo. There are some types that are about as difficult to get rid of as kudzu and it takes over an area crowding out everything else.


Well I was wondering if that is more to do with nothing much eating it?


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## gila_dog (Jun 17, 2011)

CarolT said:


> We're trying to keep ours from getting to it until it gets established well enough to stand up to them LOL They absolutely love it and I like that if they get loose, they go for the bamboo rather than my rosebushes now





6e said:


> Maybe I need to plant bamboo around my fruit trees to keep them away from those!


I think planting cane or bamboo to keep the goats off your rosebushes and fruit trees is like adding broccoli and tomatoes to a salad bar to keep people from eating the lettuce. You will just make them extra happy. :grin:


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## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

Rather than either bamboo or kudzu, I would plant chicory. Chicory is very nutritious and once it is established will come back year after year. It does contain some tannins so there is the possibility it could help with parasite control, althought hat has not been established.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

oz in SC V2.0 said:


> Well I was wondering if that is more to do with nothing much eating it?


Good point. My experience with bamboo in Florida and Virginia was it is invasive, crowds out native plants, and is hard to kill. Some types are supposed to be surrounded with concrete that goes a few feet below ground so that it won't spread. But I've never seen what goats would do to it. 

I've seen one stand in VA that the city comes in once a year to try to contain the bamboo. They chop it down and apply herbicide which chokes it back for a while. But by the end of summer, the canes are 20' tall again. I would guess that if they would kill the new growth several times in a year so that the roots didn't have a chance to recharge, the stuff would die, but I really don't know for sure.


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