Goats for brush clearing

I have recently acquired a herd of 5 wethers that I’m using to clear excessive undergrowth on my property. I have tons of wild honey suckle and poison everything and hedge (Osage orange) invading Everywhere. These guys are doing a fantastic job of clearing however they are working almost too fast for me to keep up! I’m using a premier 1 electric mesh fence. It’s 164’ in length so it creates a space that’s not enormous. My question for you is this. What would you all feed your goats after they’ve cleared the green stuff from the area before you have time to move them to the next area? Would you stick with hay? How about alfalfa pellets/grain to tie them over a day or two up to a few days till I can get the time to move them to the next area? Thanks all!

I would exclusively feed hay. It’s good for their rumens. Especially long stemmed hay, gives rumen bacteria something to digest.

Of course, you could feed pellets and other things, but it really is not good for them. They don’t need the extra “energy” that’s in pellets or grain, since they don’t produce anything.

And you probably would be better off cost-wise with hay, too. It doesn’t need to be the highest protein hay, just some properly made grass hay.

Thanks! I’ve got some pellets that came from their previous owner. I’ll be getting some hay today thank you.

If you already have the pellets, you can give them some, and if it’s a small amount per day, it won’t harm them.

But in terms of feeding for those days when they run out of browsing, hay is definitely the way to go.

Also, maybe keep an eye on them. Mine tend to test the fence and sometimes jump it if they run out if goodies to eat inside😀. After all, they’re goats, he he!