# Cows/ goats eating apples/ pears/ trees



## hunt4farm (Aug 8, 2018)

Couple questions here: Is it okay for my cows to eat apples from our trees? Also if I release them into a new area to Graze that has Apple and pear trees will the cows hurt the trees or is my main problem going to be the goats eating the bark off the trees and killing them?


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Yes. They are both going to eat your trees. Goats will eat bark, windfalls, hanging branches. Cows will eat windfalls and hanging branches and leaves.

If there are a LOT of windfalls, you may have sick critters, too.

If the trees are small, the cattle may rub their itchies on them and knock them down.


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

the goats will eat the entire tree down to the trunk.
I had it happen here..
cows can choke on apples.. they do not always chew them properly and swallow big chunks or whole apples.
sometimes the apple is too large to be swallowed and the cow can choke..
have you ever seen a wood lot where cows are kept ?
all the trees are bare as high as the cows can browse.
poultry in an orchard are beneficial. they keep the ground cleaned up from dropped apples. in over 40 years, I never had to spray for insects.. and we never had any problems with wormy apples.
I have hundreds of assorted trees on my two acre yard.
I throw cracked corn at the base of a weedy tree. the chickens scratch at the corn and destroy the weeds.
I haven't had to run a weed whacker for longer than I can remember..
.....jiminwisc...... .


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

We let our cows eat produce from our trees but we bring it to them,we don't let them or goats eat on the trees. Goats will reek havok on the trees


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## hunt4farm (Aug 8, 2018)

I really would like to open this area up to my cows and goats but I don't want them to destroy the very mature apple and pear trees in the part of the pasture


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

are your trees in a group where you could build a fence around them ? I have seen this done..


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

hunt4farm said:


> I really would like to open this area up to my cows and goats but I don't want them to destroy the very mature apple and pear trees in the part of the pasture


The cattle on my property don't bother the dozen or so mature apple trees scattered about at all. Given the huge number of apples that fall naturally, OTOH, there's precious few new saplings to be found. I think the cows find those young shoots rather tasty.


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## hunt4farm (Aug 8, 2018)

Yes they are in a group, but they are already inside of a fenced area and I'm getting tired of having to mow around all of them . Im looking for another option to keep it down ate down so I can rotate them I to this area (opening more options for rotational grazing and keeping area " naturally mowed"?


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## hunt4farm (Aug 8, 2018)

I can always let them in to this area but it also will let my goats into this area and I don't want them to destroy these mature apple and pear trees


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

what I meant was put a fence around the trees to keep the animals away from them.
get yourself a few geese. they do a great job of mowing grass and many types of weeds..


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)




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## M5farm (Jan 14, 2014)

some folks worry too much , There is a small hazard from choking but most of the choking is from when people buy a few boxes of apples and dump them over the fence for the cows and they gorge themselves. if its part of the environment they tend to be a little less prone to pay much attn to them excluding the first day you turn them in. if your worried just keep a about a 3' piece of broom handle with you and if you see one choking push it down


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

that apple choking cow was not my idea.
it came from a vet. what if you don't see the cow choking ? is it worth the risk ?
and who is going to walk around with a stick all the time just in case ?? LOL
I don't have any cows. and I am not a worrier .. just mentioned it as a heads up.
if it doesn't apply to you, just ignore it..


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## M5farm (Jan 14, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> that apple choking cow was not my idea.
> it came from a vet. what if you don't see the cow choking ? is it worth the risk ?
> and who is going to walk around with a stick all the time just in case ?? LOL
> I don't have any cows. and I am not a worrier .. just mentioned it as a heads up.
> if it doesn't apply to you, just ignore it..


everything has some risk. Animals are built to handle the environment they live in . That is the biggest problem nowdays . Something happens once or twice and a warning has to be applied to everyone, Its BS . There are far more toxic plants in every pasture than all of the choking cows combined, and folks don't have to tell them not to eat them . The stick is a useful tool for people pouring out apples, pears, onions, potatoes as feed or treats. I responded to make sure people have enough facts to make a decision in there operation. I would think the OP would want advice from people that own cows and have fed tons of apples , pears and vegetables .


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

How about assuming that people who responded might have actual experience with critters choking? Like ME!


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## Vjklander (Apr 24, 2018)

Just loosely wrap the base/trunk with wire fencing. I do that with the young trees when I plant them. It should work in your case too.


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## IndyDave (Jul 17, 2017)

All I can add to this is that I used to have a young peach tree. My alpacas ate it.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Cows will compact the soil around the tree roots....not good. Most of (well, nearly all...) use Roundup around the trunks to keep the weeds suppressed. This allows for more nutrient and moisture uptake. In the springtime, a flail mower is used to chop up the pruned branches--this also clears out the grass. Pecan farmers raise beef cows underneath the trees--but they are widely spaced so compaction isn't so much of a problem.

Some organic approaches for orchards are geese and chickens and ducks..(oh my...) and closely spaced trees but set up for row mowing or checkerboard mowing and disking more than once a summer.

geo


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

M5farm said:


> .... if your worried just keep a about a 3' piece of broom handle with you and if you see one choking push it down



??? Seems to me that would jam the stuck apple further into place... wouldn't it be better to use a 6 ft broom and push it UP from the other end?


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

<snort>


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Doc, it doesn't. Been there, done that and had I not been around when it happened there would have been one very dead cow. She was obviously choking on a kumera (our version of the sweet potato) and my first course of action was to put my hand and arm down her throat to hopefully bring it out. That didn't work so used my stock stick (an approximately 3ft bit of polypipe) and rammed that down her throat. I met resistance and kept on pushing (like I'm panicking) and suddenly the resistance was gone. She gulped, gulped again, stood up, shook herself and wandered off. Smart comments are not always very helpful.

Don't feed small fruit and vegetables to your cows and sheep unless you want to stand around and supervise it. There is no doubt they love them but they are not a natural feed and ruminants don't eat food in their mouths. Grass gets ripped up, given a couple of chews if lucky and immediately disappears into the first of their 3 stomachs. They want to do the same with apples but apples etc. are not grass with the result that there are going to be accidents. Use some common sense - just because a person has never had an accident doesn't mean to say they won't happen. 

Hunt4farm, in answer to your original question, cattle and trees are not always a good mix. They will eat the leaves and younger branches despite being grazers rather than browsers but the biggest damage comes about through wanting to use them as scratching posts. Goats are even worse as they are browsers and are given to bark biting, not to mention being extremely clever at "climbing" trees to get at the lower branches. Even sheep can wreak havoc on fruit trees. We keep our orchard, small as it is, free of all stock except the goose and ducks, both of which manage to keep the grass down and eat any grub they come across.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

I don't think a cow can easily "choke" as such the way people do (humans endure that risk to allow for more vocal range and communication) but apples of a certain size I've heard can be a hazard. I'd fence around them giving generous space then mature wood chip mulch around the base. Animals are great around fruit trees for eating rotting fruit and keeping pests down but I think my goats would climb my apple trees and de-leaf the entire things if I let them.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

My sheep would eat any leaves they could reach, and even ate the bark off Red Cedar trees.
I had to put fencing around any trees I wanted to leave intact.


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

there is no doubt in my mind that goats will destroy an apple tree. I had a half dozen milking goats and they got out of the pasture while we were to town.
when we got home they were standing around a formerly 10 foot high apple tree. they had eaten all of the branches that were less than 1/2 inch in diameter.
stripped all the rest of the branches AND the 3 inch trunk of all of the bark..


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## collegeboundgal (Jul 17, 2005)

We rotate our livestock keeping the damage to woods/trees to a minimum. I don't think doing a quick rotation can kill the trees. I am talking about a day or less... If you need to, create smaller paddocks to move more frequently and minimize the damage even more.


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