# Grass clippings and goats



## forphase1 (Aug 5, 2010)

Morning folks. Gotta question for ya'll. I have about a 2 acre lawn that I mow. I recently bought a bagger so I can use some of the clippings for compost and the like. But my questions is this: Can I take the clippings, dry them, and use them in the winter to help feed my goats and/or rabbits? I know that goat prefer woody weeds and the like, but my 3 nubians tend to eat grass fairly often, even when their is a ton of other stuff around them *shrug*. Would this work, provided I kept the grass from mildew or becoming moldy? Thanks!


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## April (Nov 28, 2006)

You're just making hay when you mow - it's just that the lawn mower chops the grass blades into smaller pieces than the hay mowers do. The deal with that is that you can't really bale the smaller chopped bits so storage would be a problem. 

I think what you'd have to do is make sure that you turn and turn and turn the grass clippings so that they dry all the way without getting moldy. I would dump them into a long line (windrow) in the sun and then rake them over a few times a day for a couple of sunny days. 

I suppose storing the dried clippings in a big pile would be all right - I can't think why it wouldn't.

This is kind of interesting to think about!


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

goats hate woody weeds.
Goats like leafy stuff. When they browse they eat the leaves or the bark not the stems.

Your grass clippings will be fine if you can get them to dry. I'd recommend ditching the bagger and getting a sweeper and sweeping them after they have lain for a day or so.


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## forphase1 (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks for the advice. I kinda thought it would work, but I wasn't sure. What I plan on doing is bagging as I go, and dumping it when needed onto a trailer that I've got, and leave the trailer in the sun, and turn the clippings frequently, and once dry stuff the grass into some burlap sacks and store until winter time. I don't the land for hay at the moment, but I've got tons of grass clippings.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

My goats must be weirdos. They love woody weeds. They love leafy weeds. They love weeds with flowers.

My goats are equal opportunity weed eaters. LOL!

Ahem. Back to the subject at hand. I was under the impression that if they hay were cut too short, the goats might choke on it. Now that I know better, I think I'll hook up the bagger and make sure those clippings don't go to waste.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

I still say you would be better off letting the grass lie till it's dry. That's how real hay is made.
With the big clumps you stand a real risk of creating a stinking moldy mess that will disappoint you and kill goats.
Grass heats when it is moist it will heat all day and all night. Unless you are prepared to turn it 24/7 till it reaches approx 15% moisture leave the bagger out of the equation...seriously.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

If I were you I would first know what type of grass you are talking about. (When I was purchasing our grass seeds, the store owner told me of one type I should not buy because it might harm the goats he knew I let roam over our acreage. I don't remember what type it was; but it certainly gave me food for thought.) Also, if you treat your lawn with cemicals, you might want to make sure what you are doing will not harm goats either.

After you know your grass is the type you could feed your goats without damaging them, then mowing and drying any way you can would certainly work. (We use a walk-behind DR Field & Brush Mower to cut our grass. It does mulch it somewhat; but mostly just throws it to the side in long, leafy strands. We let it dry, turn it over, let it dry, use a leaf rake to roll it onto "mesh" sheeting; then haul it t the loft. It works great.) Mowing your grass with a lawn mower that bags it, spreading it out on a trailer as you stated to let it dry, then bagging it for future use should work fine. (I am overly cautious at times; so I would be careful about "bagging" it as I would want to make sure any wet clippings left would continue to dry over time and not mildew in that bag.)


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

forphase1 said:


> Thanks for the advice. I kinda thought it would work, but I wasn't sure. What I plan on doing is bagging as I go, and dumping it when needed onto a trailer that I've got, and leave the trailer in the sun, and turn the clippings frequently, and once dry stuff the grass into some burlap sacks and store until winter time. I don't the land for hay at the moment, but I've got tons of grass clippings.


I agree that this is likely to cause mold.

Could you cut it, leave it lay and they pick it up with the bagger after it's dry? Even then I would go through it to make sure it's dry because it doesn't take a very big clump of grass to mold within 24 hours.

If you can get it dry and into storage I think your goats will love it.

I bag up several bags of dried oak leaves each fall for winter treats.


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## forphase1 (Aug 5, 2010)

I love this website. I keep getting more great advice. As to the kind of grass I've got, I have no idea. I bought the farm a year ago, and it's whatever kind was already there. The goats eat it frequently as is, and I've never seen any issues out of them from eating it. Also, I don't put any kind of chemicals on my grass, I just let it grow as is.

I suppose I could cut it and let it lay, turn it a few times, then 'cut' again mainly to pick up the previously cut grass. I'm trying to work with the tools I've got, and I've got a twin bagger, but not a lawn sweeper. Whatever method I chose, I'll have to be certain that it dries well and mold free. I've got a huge concrete slab where the previous owners once had a double wide sitting....maybe I could bag it, dump it on that slab, and spread it out there to dry. Just a thought.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

Please be aware that grass clippings from a mower, left in a pile more than a couple inches deep, can heat enough to be come toxic in just a couple of hours. I've dried clippings for my goats, and they loved them, but I dried them on a suspended screen, and made very sure the clippings were spread thinly enough that air was able to circulate freely throughout. Moldy grass causes listeriosis, which is a brain infection. It can be transmitted through the milk from your goats to your family before you see any symptoms in your goat. So you can see that the stakes are pretty high for getting the grass clippings dried correctly. If you don't want to go to all that trouble, they also make very nice garden mulch. )


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Of course, I would never leave the grass in the bagger - even if I wasn't planning to feed it to livestock. That can get nasty FAST. P.U.!!

But it's easier for me to bag and then dump it out into my own windrows that I can fluff until nice and dry. We're talking a LOT of mowing here (and no, I don't think a bit of it is "Suburban Lawn Grass" by any stretch of the imagination - if it ever was).

Cut/bag it, lay the windrows, fluff, then bale. 

The cutting Nick does out in the orchard and fields lays in windrows, but I don't always get out to it.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

We took a slightly different tack this summer. We put the wet grass right out of the bagger into a garbage bag and tied it tight. Invert it and put it into another garbage bag and tie it tight. Then we put them in a dark shed. Now we have a room full of silage that smells great and is available to feed to the lambs and hogs this fall and winter.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Why not bypass the middleman (lawn mower) and let the goats do the 'mowing'.

Our goats eat anything green or brown... they don't just snip off leaves... they sever the ends of limbs, and eat the stem, twigs, and leaves.

Personally, working the grass clippings sounds like a heckuva lot of work, for little return. In my case, if I were feeding dry penned goats, that time would be better served walking out and chopping off an armload of tree limbs, with leaves and twigs attached. I've got a huge area of sacrificial trees... instead of just bushhogging em down (or chainsawing), I bend them over when the goats are feeding, and they strip the leaves quickly.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Well, we had to plant trees when we moved here. Now we have to protect the trees from the goats. So grass is a better option for us.


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## forphase1 (Aug 5, 2010)

texican said:


> Why not bypass the middleman (lawn mower) and let the goats do the 'mowing'.
> 
> Our goats eat anything green or brown... they don't just snip off leaves... they sever the ends of limbs, and eat the stem, twigs, and leaves.
> 
> Personally, working the grass clippings sounds like a heckuva lot of work, for little return. In my case, if I were feeding dry penned goats, that time would be better served walking out and chopping off an armload of tree limbs, with leaves and twigs attached. I've got a huge area of sacrificial trees... instead of just bushhogging em down (or chainsawing), I bend them over when the goats are feeding, and they strip the leaves quickly.


Because the goats have plenty of 'mowing' to do in their own fields.  I'm thinking of saving the dried grass clippings to feed in the winter, instead of having to buy so much hay. My goats arn't dry penned, they are free to run around on about 2 acres of land right now, and that acreage keeps expanding as I fix more of the fence.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

my few acres that my goats range has become overgrown, apparently Pygmybabies thinks I need more goats to mow it since the 5 does I have out there arent keeping it down. Seriously if you stand 5 feet or under you would be lost out there, anyone have a sythe I can borrow was thinking of chopping some down for winter treat as well...


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Pony, what is a "windrow" that permits you to fluff the cuttings?


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I think if you cleaned the concrete pad you could use it for drying the grass.

Take it directly to the pad and spread it out no more than an inch thick. Then I would turn it when I saw it starting to dry well. Do that a few times and it should be good.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

motdaugrnds said:


> Pony, what is a "windrow" that permits you to fluff the cuttings?


Just rows of grass. When we scythe the field, the grass goes off to one side in a row. We fluff that a couple of times (over a couple of days) until it's dry and ready to bale.


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