Do goats eat acorns and will the acorns hurt the goats stomachs?

Answer 1

acorns are poisonous to sheep and goats. To learn more about it , please go to about any goat or sheep forum. Here is one link.

http://www.goatworld.com/articles/acornpoisoning_gwmf.shtml

Goats do eat acorns. If a goat is introduced to a pasture where there are acorns and oak leaves, and the goat had never been exposed to these before, there is a likelihood that the goat will become ill upon ingesting them. The most obvious outward sign is emesis (vomiting). This happens when the toxin (most likely a tannic acid) causes rumen stasis (the rumen stops digesting food). If left untreated, the goat will likely die a horribly painful death. To treat acorn/oak poisoning, use a mixture of mineral oil and milk of magnesia. A 1:1 ratio is what I typically use. Give the goat 90mL orally with a drench gun. Go slowly- you don't want the goat to aspirate anything (especially acorn pieces/oak leaves) into his or her lungs. Offer the goat hay- remove the temptation of the acorns/oak leaves. It's likely the goat won't eat at first- you'll know the goat is improving when it begins to nibble on some hay. After the initial dose of the milk of magnesia/mineral oil concoction, give another 30mL orally every hour until you begin to see signs of improvement. Continue to give 30mL orally every eight hours once you see signs of improvement and discontinue once all signs of illness have been completely absent for twenty-four hours. In the event you see NO signs of improvement within the first eight hours of treatment, or a worsening of symptoms, call your veterinarian. Your goat may have ingested too much, may have aspirated and contracted pneumonia, or may have organ failure (liver or kidney).