Trees and Goats

[Baymule]

Hey, sounds like a great plan! I’ve got a small herd myself and went through something similar when setting up. A couple of good multipurpose options you might look into:

Black Locust – fast-growing, great shade, and goats love the leaves. Plus, it's nitrogen-fixing, so it improves the soil. Just watch the thorns when it's young.

Mulberry trees – also a favorite for browse. They grow quickly, provide decent shade, and the leaves are super nutritious for goats. Bonus: if they fruit, you might get a treat too.

Pine is fine in moderation — mine nibble on the needles occasionally, but I wouldn't rely on it as their primary feed.

Good call avoiding Juniper — some types can be toxic. Definitely worth keeping them out of your pasture.

Hope that helps a bit. Let us know how it goes once the goats arrive!

My personal opinion, skip the locust. They make tons of seed, they come up everywhere and mowing does not kill them. The thorns are awful. I loathe and despise locust.
Need nitrogen in the soil? Plant white clover.

 

[farmerjan]

6 yr old thread brought back to life? OP hasn't been on forum since Sept, '22, doubt the recent comments will ever get to them.

 

[BellaM]

In my experience goats and trees don't go together. I've wasted quite a lot of money planting indigenous trees only to have my goats destroy them.
I've tried many ways of protecting the trees but like somebody already said, goats will do anything to get to them including climbing on each other and/or getting themselves stuck requiring an emergency response.
I actually use my goats for invasive species removal.
So, like somebody else suggested, I have resorted to putting up three sided shelters. They're close to but fenced off from existing large trees, taking afternoon sun into consideration. Goats enjoy the morning sun so I've positioned the shelters with afternoon protection by the existing trees.

 

[Mini Horses]

They will destroy young trees!!! They will strip the bark right off. Older trees are generally safe there but, yes, they will eat leaves & young stem as high as they can reach, standing on hind legs.

You can fence off the trees but only EXCELLENT fence, plus hot wire will come close to handling the uncontrollable desire to eat them! I stopped even trying to raise fruit trees.