Many people ask about which goat breed eat the most weeds. It is very important to know about the breed for weed control, especially if you want to control weeds through goats.
Goats are browsers and naturally they love to eat weeds. As they are natural browsers, so you can use your goats as an environmentally friendly means for eradicating weeds and brush from your garden or property.
Which Goat Breed Eat The Most Weeds?
But do you know, which goat breed eat the most weeds? Here we are describing about some goat breeds which will eat weeds from your property.
Brush Goats
Brush goats are used for professional weed control operations. Although they are not a particular goat breed. Usually brush goats are result of a cross between dairy and meat goat breeds.
An ideal brush goat is healthy, hardy, good-tempered and become highly parasite resistive than other goats. Wethers or castrated male goats are considered as best for controlling brush. But breeding does are not perfect for this purpose.
Sometime does can also damage their udders in places with heavy brush. There are some advantages of raising brush goats. They will be very effective for controlling weeds from your garden or property area. And their raising costs are less compared to a bulldozer, tractor or brush hog.
Different Sized Goats
If you are serious about controlling brush and weeds, then consider raising different sized goats together in a herd. Doing this will ensure that, your goats are consuming various types of weeds and plants at various height. With a range of sizes, expect goats to clear weeds from the ground to about 7 feet in height.
Boer goats are larger sized meat goat breeds and they can consume plants and weeds at 6 go 7 feet height. On the other hand, Nigerian dwarf or Pygmy goats are small sized animal and they will consume the smaller sized plants and weeds. Angora goats are fiber producing goat breed and they can also be your good choice for brush control.
Meat Goats are Good for Weed Control
Boer goats are good for brush control. They are actually a highly meat producing goat breed originated from South Africa. Boer goats also cross well with dairy goat breeds.
So they are very suitable and a perfect choice for you, especially if you want to raise goats for controlling brush or weeds. On the other hand Spanish goats are also suitable for brush control purpose.
Actually Spanish goat is not a breed, it is a type. They are raised for both milk and meat production. Avoid goats with horns, especially if you want to use them for any amount of weed control. Because horned goats are much more likely to get their heads stuck in fence, branches or in the weeds.
Sometimes the horned goats can also injure other goats on your herd. Disbudding will be very effective for the goats which you want to use for weed control. And it will be better if you can use naturally hornless or polled goats for this purpose. Castrated males are good choice.
Some best goats for weed control are:
- Kiko
- Boer
- Spanish
- Nubian
- Alpine
- LaMancha
- Nigerian Dwarf
- Oberhasli
- Toggenburg and
- Savannah goats
