04-05-2007, 02:06 PM
jade,
Thanks for posting your fiascofarm.com link. I have been looking at goats for a long time and I learned more from that site. You may have missed it but there is a page on toxic plants here: http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm
The page contains the usually suspects but I saw one that caught my attention. I am a fan of avocados and I have eaten many Hass and Fuerte in my life. My mother used to also wrap steamed Japanese sweets in avocado leaves when I was growing up. This caught my curiosity and did some further research. I found the following on some university web site:
"Unripe avocados are said to be toxic. Two resins derived from the skin of the fruit are toxic to guinea pigs by subcutaneous and peritoneal injection. Dopamine has been found in the leaves. The leaf oil contains methyl chavicol. Not all varieties are equally toxic. Rabbits fed on leaves of 'Fuerte' and 'Nabal' died within 24 hours. Those fed on leaves of 'Mexicola' showed no adverse reactions. Ingestion of avocado leaves and/or bark has caused mastitis in cattle, horses, rabbits and goats. Large doses have been fatal to goats. Craigmill et al. at Davis, California, have confirmed deleterious effects on lactating goats which were allowed to graze on leaves of 'Anaheim' avocado an hour each day for 2 days. Milk was curdled and not milkable, the animals ground their teeth, necks were swollen and they coughed, but the animals would still accept the leaves on the 4th day of the experiment. By the 10th day, all but one goat were on the road to recovery. All abnormal signs had disappeared 20 days later. In another test, leaves of a Guatemalan variety were stored for 2 weeks in plastic bags and then given to 2 Nubian goats in addition to regular feed over a period of 2 days. Both suffered mastitis for 48 hours. Avocado leaves in a pool have killed the fish. Canaries have died from eating the ripe fruit. The seeds, ground and mixed with cheese or cornmeal, have been used to poison rodents. However, tests in Hawaii did not show any ill effect on a mouse even at the rate of 1/4 oz (7 g) per each 2.2 lbs (1 kg) of body weight, though the mouse refused to eat the dried, grated seed material until it was blended with cornmeal. Avocado seed extracts injected into guinea pigs have caused only a few days of hyperexcitability and anorexia. At Davis, mice given 10 to 14 g of half-and-half normal ration and either fresh or dried avocado seed died in 2 or 3 days, though one mouse given 4 times the dose of the others survived for 2 weeks."
It turns out that there are three strains of avocado. Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indies. Hass and Fuerte are Mexican-Guatemalan hybrids. According to an article on the CTAHR site that says most of the avocados grown in Hawaii are Guatemalan or Guatemalan-West Indian hybrids. I did not run across any references to West Indian toxicity.
Anyway, here is another goat oriented web site I have visited in the past that has an article that addresses your question about whether goats are smart enough to stay away from something bad for them: http://www.goatworld.com/
The article is under the Poisonous Plants link on the left side of the Home Page.
One more thought. You probably won't let your goats into the garden anyway, but plants in the Solanaceae family that includes tomato, potato, pepper, tobacco and egg plant are all in the same family as nightshade (belladonna).
Thanks for posting your fiascofarm.com link. I have been looking at goats for a long time and I learned more from that site. You may have missed it but there is a page on toxic plants here: http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm
The page contains the usually suspects but I saw one that caught my attention. I am a fan of avocados and I have eaten many Hass and Fuerte in my life. My mother used to also wrap steamed Japanese sweets in avocado leaves when I was growing up. This caught my curiosity and did some further research. I found the following on some university web site:
"Unripe avocados are said to be toxic. Two resins derived from the skin of the fruit are toxic to guinea pigs by subcutaneous and peritoneal injection. Dopamine has been found in the leaves. The leaf oil contains methyl chavicol. Not all varieties are equally toxic. Rabbits fed on leaves of 'Fuerte' and 'Nabal' died within 24 hours. Those fed on leaves of 'Mexicola' showed no adverse reactions. Ingestion of avocado leaves and/or bark has caused mastitis in cattle, horses, rabbits and goats. Large doses have been fatal to goats. Craigmill et al. at Davis, California, have confirmed deleterious effects on lactating goats which were allowed to graze on leaves of 'Anaheim' avocado an hour each day for 2 days. Milk was curdled and not milkable, the animals ground their teeth, necks were swollen and they coughed, but the animals would still accept the leaves on the 4th day of the experiment. By the 10th day, all but one goat were on the road to recovery. All abnormal signs had disappeared 20 days later. In another test, leaves of a Guatemalan variety were stored for 2 weeks in plastic bags and then given to 2 Nubian goats in addition to regular feed over a period of 2 days. Both suffered mastitis for 48 hours. Avocado leaves in a pool have killed the fish. Canaries have died from eating the ripe fruit. The seeds, ground and mixed with cheese or cornmeal, have been used to poison rodents. However, tests in Hawaii did not show any ill effect on a mouse even at the rate of 1/4 oz (7 g) per each 2.2 lbs (1 kg) of body weight, though the mouse refused to eat the dried, grated seed material until it was blended with cornmeal. Avocado seed extracts injected into guinea pigs have caused only a few days of hyperexcitability and anorexia. At Davis, mice given 10 to 14 g of half-and-half normal ration and either fresh or dried avocado seed died in 2 or 3 days, though one mouse given 4 times the dose of the others survived for 2 weeks."
It turns out that there are three strains of avocado. Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indies. Hass and Fuerte are Mexican-Guatemalan hybrids. According to an article on the CTAHR site that says most of the avocados grown in Hawaii are Guatemalan or Guatemalan-West Indian hybrids. I did not run across any references to West Indian toxicity.
Anyway, here is another goat oriented web site I have visited in the past that has an article that addresses your question about whether goats are smart enough to stay away from something bad for them: http://www.goatworld.com/
The article is under the Poisonous Plants link on the left side of the Home Page.
One more thought. You probably won't let your goats into the garden anyway, but plants in the Solanaceae family that includes tomato, potato, pepper, tobacco and egg plant are all in the same family as nightshade (belladonna).
Larry