# sage?? Is it harmful to goats



## 1sttimemom (Mar 1, 2005)

I may have found some very affordable grass hay due to being "contaminated" with sage. I was wondering if this is OK for goats to eat or is it harmful? Our goats will still get alf pellets & grain as needed. With hay prices being in the $300+ per ton range I am looking to cut expenses but don't want to hurt them. In the past I have bought weedy hay for goats and they loved it but that was thistle. They picked out the thistle before they ate the alfalfa in the mix hay!


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Not that I am aware of. Last year, the goats got into my herb garden and ate everything, including my big, healthy, sage bushes, down to nubs. No effect on the goats whatsoever, besides their sly grins at being naughty.


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## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

I believe they are refering to a different kind of Sage and not the spice type. If i'm correct I would pass on it because our cattle nor anything else eats sage around here.. Fields here in TN that are covered in sage get bushhoged.. I have been living on our 168 acre family farm with cattle, horses, goats, mules during that time and nothing will eat hay with sage in it.


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

I am on my Kindle, and I don't know how to post links. Google - sage dry off goats. I have heard to use it to inhibit milk production.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Oh, that is true, Alice! I forgot about that; I didn't have anyone in milk when they got the herb garden.

Sage is used for people, too, when they want to stop milk production, so if you have anything you want to keep in milk, you shouldn't feed them sage.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

even if they dont eat the sage like Mamagoat said, they can eat around it, and it wont hurt them,


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## Zilli (Apr 1, 2012)

KSALguy said:


> even if they dont eat the sage like Mamagoat said, they can eat around it, and it wont hurt them,


By buying hay that you know has stuff in it that your goats won't eat, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of buying cheaper hay?

I mean, if you are paying by the ton, ultimately you are also paying for whatever the goats waste (and we all know there's more than enough waste with hay that goats do like ) .

I'm not sure there is much money to be saved if you're buying by the ton and the goats won't eat a good portion of what's in it.


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## Kits&Kids (Feb 10, 2012)

I have lots of sage in my pastures. The goats seem to eat it before the eat the buffalo grass in the spring. It gives them some stinky breath but no health problems.


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## Chaty (Apr 4, 2008)

I use sage to dry off my goats and my hay has some wild sage in it and some eat it and some dont. Just depends on the goats...Mine dont like Dock weed and they just ate around it. Guess it just depends on what you can get at the time because of the drought around here as we didnt get anywhere near the hay we usually get. I use alfalfa pellets too but they have gone up in price too. I guess it just depends on how much is in it, if its worth it to you...did you look at it.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

with all the "ifs" involved, and considering its not harmful and they goats CAN and MIGHT eat it, its worth a few "ifs" in my book to be able to feed them AND save some money,


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## JBarGFarmKeeper (Nov 1, 2011)

It's definitely a weed! Don't roll it out in your field or scatter it. It is usually in poor pastures. Very hard to get rid of, cows don't touch it. Just sayin'


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## Kits&Kids (Feb 10, 2012)

We are talking about goats not cows. Poor pastures are relative. We here have only had 7 inch of moisture so far this year. Not good but enough to grow the grass and sage to keep from having to selling the herd. Not all raise pets.


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## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

If the hay your are thinking about buying looks like this, I advise against it.. . Not sure if this link will work here or not. You might have to copy and paste it into a new window....
Google Image Result for http://www.onlineplantguide.com/Image%2520Library/A/1422.jpg


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## 1sttimemom (Mar 1, 2005)

We didn't go look yet. I did contact them and it was possibly already sold. They were only asking $2 bale vs the going rate for good hay around here is $10-14!!! So even if goats wasted 1/2 it was still cheap. They had 400 bales. They said they would contact me if the person didn't take it all.


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

Neighbors pasture is neglected & COVERED in sage. We have a couple acres that get a lot of sage & I can't combat it with him having so much (IMO). My goats have never complained. 
With our extreme drought we actually got 2 cuttings on our hay last yr, we have had more rain this yr, but only one cutting. 2 yrs of heat & drought is hard on the land & livestock. I had planned on keeping my share of hay from the 2nd cutting, hopefully I have enough in the barn to hold us over.


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## 1sttimemom (Mar 1, 2005)

Well they got back to me. It's all sold. :sob:


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