A huge part of raising goats involves learning best animal husbandry practices, which includes knowing the difference between safe and toxic foodstuffs for goats.
Are apples safe for goats? And Can goats eat apple trees?
Yes, goats can enjoy apples and parts of the apple trees; this fruit can actually be a beneficial part of your goat’s seasonal diet.
While apples are a nontoxic food option for goats, there are many questions about how to best feed goats apples.
Fortunately, we will be sharing our best, experience based answers with you here, so read on!
Apples For Goats: Nutritional Information
We all know the aphorism “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, and while we know that there isn’t really a correlation between eating apples and avoiding health issues, apples do offer some protein, fibers, sugars and water.
Now the exact vitamin and mineral content of an apple depends on the type of apple (fuji vs. gala vs. granny smith), but across the board apples also contain:
- Copper
- Manganese
- Zinc
- Vitamin C
- Phosphorus
- Iron
- Thiamin
- Magnesium
Many of these are micronutrients that are essential for a goat’s bodily function, for example:
Iron is important for young goats as nannie’s milk is naturally low in this particular mineral while low levels of zinc can result in stiffness of joints and smaller testicles in your goats.
Furthermore, insufficient phosphorus can result in a 60% drop in milk production as the nanny goat pulls from her bodily reserves.
It is clear that apples are a great source of dietary water and trace amounts of essential minerals and vitamins, but their low fiber content (about 3g per apple) and high sugar content (19g per apple) means that they should never be a main part of your goats’ diets.
Can you imagine goats climbing your apple tree to harvest apples?
Can Goats Eat Apples Everyday
Apples are best offered to goats as yummy treats or seasonal dietary supplements.
This means that during apple season, or if you have a fruiting apple tree on your land (as we do) your goats can enjoy, at most, 2 apples a day.
But any long term or unmonitored eating of apples can result in serious stomach issues triggered by too many sugars in the rumen.
Rember, goats are masters at digesting coarse, high fiber plant material through their four stomach systems and can’t process high sugar foods.
When goats don’t ingest enough high fiber foods, or gorge on sweet treats, their rumen can become inflamed, which is known as bloat.
A bloated goat will be in pain, may lose their appetite, and will be experiencing constipation or diarrhea. Severe bloating can even be deadly!
A bloated, swollen rumen will be visibly pushing out of your goat’s upper left side.
Proactive Care Is The Best Care For Goats
The most effective way we have managed to avoid painful bloating and gastrointestinal issues in our goats is to be proactive about what and how much treat foods we offer them.
We also always make sure our goats have access to high quality hay, which is an extremely high fiber food that they love!
Can Goats Eat Apples Whole
Yes, technically speaking, goats can eat whole apples.
That’s right, goats can eat apple cores, apple seeds, apple skin, and even apple blossoms!
However, we have always cut the apples we offer our goats into fourths to avoid choking hazards and to do our best to remove any apple seeds, for reasons explained next.
Are Apples or Apple Seeds Toxic To Goats
Apple seeds do contain a compound called amygdalin (Vitamin B-17), which breaks down into toxic hydrogen cyanide within the body after digestion.
However, the quantity of this toxin within the apple seed, and the amount of hydrogen cyanide it produces in the body, is quite low if just a few seeds are ingested.
For example, 1g of apple seeds can contain anywhere from 1-4mg of amygdalin, which results in an even lower amount of hydrogen cyanide in the body; and a lethal dose of hydrogen cyanide is upwards of 50-300 mg.
So while it’s not a good practice to purposefully eat apples seeds, eating a few apples whole (seeds included) for goats and us humans isn’t actually that dangerous to our health.
Read more about amygdalin in apples here.
How To Feed Your Goats Apples: Our Best Practices
Apples, unless picked from your own untreated trees or organic farms, are one of the most pesticide heavy fruits out there.
Wash All Apples Before Offering Them To Your Goats
For this reason, you must always wash all apples in cool water before offering them to your goat.
Feel free to add in a bit of soap or fruit wash drops, as this will help remove any residual pesticides as well as grime, waxes, or dirt.
Even when we offer our goats apples from our own untreated tree, we rinse them to ensure all pests and dirt are removed.
Examine The Apple Well
In addition, examine the apple well to ensure there are no worms or bugs in it, checking the skin for puncture or eaten holes.
Cut The Apple Up For Your Goats
Finally, we highly recommend cutting the apple into fourths before giving it to your goats.
They will love to eat it whole, but we’ve had a few overly excited goats that choked a bit getting it down, so we always cut them up!
Are Apple Trees And Leaves Safe For Goats
Yes, apple trees and apple leaves are safe for goats to eat.
Our goats love to browse on our apple trees. They eat the leaves, buds, blossoms and even the bark.
Goats are critters that love to chew, so we never allow them more than 1-2 hours around the apple trees as they can do permanent damage.
We also make sure our field with apple trees is always closed off with a good latch so that any stray goats can’t get in and go to town on the apple trees.
Kidd Family Farms does a great job talking about goats around fruit trees, check out the video for more info!
Can Baby Goats Have Apples
Yes, any goat that is fully weaned or that is foraging for at least ⅔ of its diet can enjoy apples.
Remember, never allow apples or other fruits to replace the high cellulose and high fiber roughage a goats’ metabolism depends upon.
Frequently Asked Questions Related To Can Goats Have Apples
Can Goats Eat Bananas?
Yes, bananas are another fruit that is safe for goats to enjoy. Learn more about offering your goats starch rich bananas in our post on Bananas For Goats.
Final Thoughts on Can Goats Eat Apples
Apples are safe, healthy, and yummy fruits that can serve as growth and development boosting treats for your goats.
The amygdalin within apple seeds is not concentrated enough to cause harm to your goats when ingested, but you can always remove the apple seeds before offering your goats this fruit to be sure!
And a final tip: mix in apple slices with the hay of your lactating nannies. Lactating goats’ fiber needs increases from 12% to 30% and apples can be a great way to encourage her to ingest as much high fiber hay as possible!