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Goats pre"fir" Christmas trees

Goats pre"fir" Christmas trees

Goats will eat old Christmas trees for digestive system health.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com, Photo by chris robert on Unsplash 

Now that holiday season has come and gone for most of us—comes the tiresome job of having to dispose of the ol’ Christmas tree.

But wait! Why not feed it to your goat? Goats, sheep, pigs and even chickens.

Feed’em if you got’em.  

As an intriguing way to upcycle and to provide a treat for your goat and other farm animals, the yule tree provides them with a tasty treat and digestive health with some fibre intake.

The old trees, with their drier falling needles provides a bit of acidity for the creatures—helps to clean out the system.

The goats, especially, will eat the needles, bark and twigs. Of course, the creatures won’t eat the entire tree, but with what’s left over—the wood—is used by some farmers to heat their barn. Waste not, want not.

 


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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2023-38640-39573 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC23-226. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.