No, goats do not eat tin cans

“What can goats not eat?”

This was the most interesting question posed to us at the Moses Lake Farmers Market Plant Clinic on Aug. 25.

My first remark was: “Steel rods and granite!” Then I added, “We will look that up and get back to you. We just don’t know what they do not eat.”

Like most people, I thought goats ate everything. My maternal grandmother had a goat, Molly by name, and her pen was bare ground, so I assumed she ate everything there, trees, weeds and all.

My paternal grandmother had a goat which my Uncle Bud hitched to a cart and rode him around the house until the goat ducked under the raised house when Uncle Bud was not looking and knocked him out cold when he hit the sill. Smart goat.

However, since Aug. 25, I have learned that goats do not eat everything. Least of all tin cans, steel rods, or even granite. Though many plants are good for goats (and most goat farmers know this), some plants are toxic for goats.

According to the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University, goats do not have a cast-iron stomach. Some goats accidentally sample toxic plants and suffer the consequences, but the major reason for food poisoning for goats comes as a result of having nothing else to eat when they ingest poisonous plants.

Sometimes goats will spit out a plant (such as Foxglove) that tastes bad to them and they do not repeat that experience. When nothing else is available, they will sample paper, various weeds, clothes and even plants they do not know are toxic.

The poisonous plants fall under the following categories: alkaloid, cyanogenics, photosensitizing, saponins, tannins, glucosides, volatile oils and others in a mixed category. Those interested in determining which plants belong to these groups can Google the category name. For our purposes, I will list some of the common plants/fruits toxic to goats in our area.

More on goats next week.