Poison Ivy is a Productive Crop

My blog post on how I set up my temporary electric fence. I would love to hear your comments on my system.

I think it's very smart. I've got a couple goats that seem to love the wooded area where the poison ivy thrives, as well as the poison ivy. I'm currently trying to decide if I want to open up my wooded area some to help get rid of the massive ivy infestation I have. Or leave it and run my chickens and goats in there.

Nice goats!

Using the goats to kill the PI is one (wonderful) thing but I hope you throw some other seeds in there; PI may be productive, but not more so than a good pasture; in particular, savannah.

Get some pasture mix under those hooves and you might be surprised how green things get. If you have a local wild grape, or hops, plant some where they can't eat the base, but are able to get the tops. It's amazing how much leaf a grape or a hop produces in one season. Also, our PI roots are not mineral miners... They are surface only. The hops and grapes bring a lot more minerals from down low to your goats nutritional intake. That may vary regionally. Maybe yours are more deeply rooted.

Best of Luck beating the PI. Get pigs if the goats don't finish the job.

And remember... Don't touch the goats!
I have stupidly given myself PI this way many times from the cat, dog, pigs, chickens, ducks and rabbits.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Those are American Alpine goats. Two males and two females.

There are some muscadine grape growing in there with them. One of the grape plants is a female so I hope they don't kill it. I was thinking of building a trellis for the vine, that would double purpose as a partial shelter for the goats.

Good idea about the pasture mix.

Lucas Branham wrote:I think it's very smart. I've got a couple goats that seem to love the wooded area where the poison ivy thrives, as well as the poison ivy. I'm currently trying to decide if I want to open up my wooded area some to help get rid of the massive ivy infestation I have. Or leave it and run my chickens and goats in there.

When I was a child in Florida I killed 5 goats feeding them poison ivy not to mention my mother taking me to the doctor after severe blisters blanketed my hands and arms. Unless Florida has a potent variety of poison ivy I think there is a toxicity threshold that limits its use as fodder.

Amedean Messan wrote:

Lucas Branham wrote:I think it's very smart. I've got a couple goats that seem to love the wooded area where the poison ivy thrives, as well as the poison ivy. I'm currently trying to decide if I want to open up my wooded area some to help get rid of the massive ivy infestation I have. Or leave it and run my chickens and goats in there.

When I was a child in Florida I killed 5 goats feeding them poison ivy not to mention my mother taking me to the doctor after severe blisters blanketed my hands and arms. Unless Florida has a potent variety of poison ivy I think there is a toxicity threshold that limits its use as fodder.

Are you sure it was poison ivy? It might have been another toxic plant like mountain laurel. The reason I question it being poison ivy is that my research indicated it was safe for my goats. Link to FIAS Co Farm.

edwin lake wrote:Are you sure it was poison ivy? It might have been another toxic plant like mountain laurel. The reason I question it being poison ivy is that my research indicated it was safe for my goats. Link to FIAS Co Farm.

This is what I remember, but also consider this was a many years ago. I was living on a homestead and my neighbor had about an acre fenced of pine tree pasture. Because I was a child and I loved goats, I decided to feed the goats enclosed in that property. I pulled lots of vines from the pine trees and piled the debris in a large pile which the goats started eating. From what I remember all the vines were the same in appearance. Later I had developed a very itchy rash all over my hands and arms, including my face (probably after rubbing the oils from my hands). My mother took me to the doctor because I knew no better and I was diagnosed with poison ivy exposure and treated with an ointment. My mother later told me that all the goats had died from the neighbor's property shortly after the incident.

My goats have been eating it amongst other forage for about a year. Only issue so far was me constantly getting it on my forearm from picking up a kid we had.

UPDATE: Three strands does not seem to be enough to contain my does in the electric fence area. They just get a running start and dodge through the lower electric rope lines. I am ordering a fourth spool, to see if that will stop them from escaping.

The other possibility is the Patriot P10 may not pulse frequently enough to deter goats. It is rated at 40 pulses per minute. This is good for preserving the battery, but makes the charger less effective if the goats can time out and scoot through between pulses.

My goats generally are not escape artists. I think there may be some bugs that are bothering them, and perhaps the shelter situation is less than what they are used to experiencing. They are pretty spoiled goats who like to hang out in a horse barn.