Goats seen eating aquatic weeds

sitenum=157

Weed control, management, ecology, and minutia

Author: John Miskella
Author: Guy B Kyser

Published on: October 28, 2019

In late October we made our monthly trip to sample curlyleaf pondweed in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. On an island in the lower San Joaquin river, we spotted goats eating waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and waterprimrose (Ludwigia sp.) along the shoreline.

Goats eating waterhyacinth and waterprimrose along the San Joaquin river.

The goats were accompanied by a benevolent and protective llama, who showed no interest in the weeds.

Tags: aquatic (51), aquatic weeds (65), biocontrol (5)

Comments: 7

Comments:

by Steven Fennimore

on October 28, 2019 at 6:58 AM

Are you sure they aren't heterozygoats for assorted manatee genes?

by Jose Martinez

on October 28, 2019 at 8:17 AM

Hello There,

I have seen this kind of behavior, but with pennywort. I have some pictures if you want to see. I grew up with goats, and have seen how they just eat about any plants, and after seeing them eating pennywort I was curious about whether they would eat water hyacinth. My guess was not far-fetched. Thank you for sharing!

Jose M. Martinez

by Theresa Becchetti

on October 28, 2019 at 9:21 AM

While goats and other animals may consume some water hyacinth, it is considered toxic by FDA and we shouldn't recommend it be feed in any great amounts. Research in the late 80's had sheep on just water hyacinth showing signs of malnutrition and dying as well as other health issues. Even sheep feed a supplement at same rate as control had health issues. Here is one reference: Babu, N. S.; Paliwal, O. P.; Charan, K.; Singh, K. P.; Parihar, N. S., 1988. Effects of water hyacinth feeding in sheep with special reference to renal lesion., Indian J Vet Pathol, 12(), 33-36 [English]. Other research projects saw similar effects.

by Guy B Kyser

on October 28, 2019 at 9:31 AM

This could be a complicated topic. Other studies suggest waterhyacinth is OK comprising up to 30% of feed for goats... but there is also a lot of discussion of heavy metal uptake by WH which would make this feeding less desirable.

by Linda Forbes

on October 28, 2019 at 11:42 AM

Once again I've learned something new and interesting from UC ANR experts. Thanks!

by Jimbo

on August 31, 2021 at 10:19 AM

As with most people that have a Koi Pond Can I feed the pond lettuce to my goats

by Guy B Kyser

on September 1, 2021 at 1:38 PM

Depends on what you mean by pond lettuce! If it's truly water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), then it's not a good idea to feed it to goats because this plant stores calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves. I would get a solid plant ID from a farm advisor or university. Best of luck.