“The leaves and parts of woody plants selected by the sheep and goats can be highly nutritious,” said Jodie Pennington, small ruminant specialist at Lincoln University.
“Browse is slightly different than more soluble feeds in that the woody fibrous parts of the plant slows down digestion and may take more effort to eat.”
“Browse is made up of the leaves and twigs of woody plants, such as shrubs, vines and trees,” said Claire Whiteside, grassland specialist with the Arkansas Natural Resource Conservation Service. “However, it is only considered browse if the animals can reach and consume it. In areas with a dense deer or goat population, a ‘browse line’ is visible with limbs trimmed up to about six feet on the trees and an open understory. Mature woods, with few low branches and little sunlight penetrating the thick canopy, would not offer accessible browse.”
Whiteside believes that the Ozarks area could support many more goats and sheep, during the growing season, than we are currently raising. During the winter, however, supplementation of hay and feed would be required.
“A weed is ‘a plant out of place’, usually describing a broadleaf forb,” Whiteside said. “Several weeds are considered noxious since they are not eaten by most livestock, such as wooly croton, hemp dogbane and horsenettle. Pokeweed, Virginia pepperweed, common ragweed, fleabane and horseweed are native forbs that goats will eat. Ironweed and goldenrod are native forbs that sheep prefer. Many native and introduced weeds have seasonally high protein and energy levels (even comparable to alfalfa), and some are sources of critical minerals.”
Browse is better for sheep and goats than other livestock because it can contain high levels of tannins that may taste bitter to cattle. “Sheep can tolerate more tannin than cattle, and goat saliva contains a protein that binds to tannins so they can tolerate even higher levels,” Whiteside said.
Livestock can also adjust their diets to the plants offered to them. That is, the animals will eat what is there. However, in a mixed pasture cattle will typically consume about 90 percent grass and clover and 10 percent browse and forbs. Sheep prefer a ratio of 70 percent grass and 30 percent forbs, with occasional brush. Goats will select about 60 percent browse, 20 percent forbs and 20 percent grass, Whiteside added.
The following are conclusions found from a recent woodlands study conducted by Pennington comparing meat goats and hair sheep grazing patterns:
• Goats ate slightly more browse and vegetation than the sheep but both speices can be used to clean up a woodlands.
• Of the vegetation categories, all of the available vines/ivy was eaten followed by lesser percentages eaten of multi-flora rose, buck brush, summer grasses, winter grasses, broadleaves, trees/bushes, briers, and sericea lespedeza. Usually over 90 percent of the vegetation was eaten.
• The goats ate greater percentage sericea, multif-lora rose, briers, broadleaves, and trees/bushes than the sheep.
• The goats had a higher browse line than the sheep because goats browse on their hind legs.
• Does had greater weight gain and improved body condition scores than ewes did which may have resulted from either the goats eating more browse or being more heat resistant than sheep as the study was in June-August or a combination of these factors.
• Nursing ewes lost weight and non-lactating ewes gained weight during the 8-week trail, while both nursing and non-lactating does gained weight during the trial. Several of the nursing ewes had larger lambs and were probably producing more milk than the does.
• Lactation status may be a factor to consider in utilizing ewes in woodlands. Females that are milking may need more nutrients than they can get from browse.
“If rotational grazing management is utilized, and the forages are never grazed below 3 inches, then all the livestock should be healthier since they will not be likely to consume the worm larvae,” said Whiteside. “Even though sheep and goats share parasites, they do not carry the same worms as cattle. So they can safely graze around cow manure (that is naturally avoided by cattle) and the cattle can graze around the small ruminant pellets (that are avoided by the sheep and goats). It all adds up to more meat per acre being produced, leading to higher profitability.”
