Fruit can be fantastic for goats, but it’s not what they should be eating all of the time. Sometimes people with fruit trees or berry bushes in the backyard struggle to manage just how much fruit their goats eat. Other people love to feed their goats sugary fruits because they raise them as pets and want them to be happy.
Luckily goats can eat most fruits without too much worry.
One thing goat owners wonder is, “can goats eat pears?” Goats can eat pears and a lot of other similar fruits. Pears are safe for goats and they provide a lot of great vitamin C for your animals.
One thing to remember, however, is that goats have complex digestive systems designed to handle roughage that makes up most of their diets. If they eat too many sugars in the form of a ton of pears, it can give them an upset stomach and make them sick. Fortunately, it’s fairly difficult to eat so many pears that it will be damaging to your goats.
Here’s some helpful information about pears and other treats you can feed your goats to keep them healthy and happy.
Knowing all about pears and other foods for your goat can help you avoid health problems and deliver the nutrients they need to thrive.
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The Basic Goat Diet
Goats have multiple stomachs. Other animals like deer, cows, etc. have multiple stomachs as well. They have more than one stomach to help digest the rough hay, grass, weeds, and grains that they forage out in fields. The food is digested in stages as it moves from stomach to stomach and then finally into the digestive tract.
Having such a complex digestive system is a great example of evolution, but it also makes goats and other animals with multiple diets more sensitive to new and strange foods. If they eat something they shouldn’t, it can throw things off track and cause bloating, pain, diarrhea, and other adverse health symptoms.
Most of the time, goats should stick to their roughage diet. You can buy hay, grains, and other feed that is fortified with vitamins and minerals to help them grow strong and healthy. Problems arise, however, when goats start eating things they normally don’t.
When a goat comes across the occasional pear, it’s no big deal. They’ll eat it up in seconds because it’s a tasty, sugary treat. But what if they have way too many pears? Eating too many carbs or foods high in sugar can cause weight problems and other health difficulties.
That’s why, as a goat owner, it’s best if you don’t feed goats pears or any other type of fruit too often. Pears should be an occasional treat you feed your goats as a way to reward them or to help form a bond with your animals.
Why Pears Are Good for Goats
Now that we know that pears should be given to goats sparingly, we can talk a bit about why pears are good for them. First of all, pears are safe for goats. They have high amounts of vitamin C and are rich in potassium. They can boost your goats’ immune systems as a result.
Many goat owners are concerned with whether their animals are getting enough vitamin C as it is, so feeding them something like pears can help.
Potassium is also something that provides a benefit to the metabolism, good news for goats who sometimes struggle digesting their foods.
If you have pear trees on your farm or in the backyard where your goats graze, you shouldn’t be too worried about your goats eating any pears that fall off of the tree onto the ground. However, sometimes the goats really go after the pears, including the ones still on the stem that you would like to eat!
You may have to fence off the trees to keep your goats away so there will be some pears left over for you and your family.
Pear Trees Are Safe Too
Sometimes tree fruits are good for goats, but the bark and leaves are toxic. Avocado and peach trees are great examples of this. Even though goats can eat avocados and peaches with no problems, eating the trees can be toxic for them.
Pear trees, however, are no threat to goats. They can eat the leaves and the bark safely and won’t encounter any health problems.
If you’ve ever seen a goat around pear trees, you’ll notice that they actually love grazing on them, sometimes to the point of damaging them. Just another reason why you may want to fence them off if you’re worried about whether they’re killing your pear trees.
Using Pears to Bond with Your Goats
On top of the health benefits of pears, giving your goats fruit is a lot of fun! Sliced pears are a great way to help kids and friends get up close with their goats. They’ll come clamoring over for a taste of those delicious treats.
They’ll clean up any dropped or rotting pears in your yard, and you can slice pears for eating in the house and feed the cores to the goats. They won’t notice the difference and will love you for giving them some sugary fruit.
The main thing, again, is that you don’t want to give your goat too many pears to the point it upsets their stomachs or causes them to gain too much weight.
If you want to feed your goats treats all of the time, stick to things like carrots, celery, and other vegetables. They’re more affordable and they’re better for your goats when eaten in larger quantities.
Still, if you’ve got some older pears you never got around to eating left in the fridge, you can grab them and take them out to your goats for a special treat. It’s a great way to spend quality time with your goats, give them some vitamin C, and get rid of aging fruit without tossing it in the trash.
Resources
- https://petfoodfuss.com/goats/can-goats-eat-pears/