Goats are renowned for eating everything that they can get their teeth into. They have a high tolerance to toxins, which makes them hardier than most other animals — and a menace to your garden.
Among the vegetables that your goat can eat, asparagus is ideal because it contains a variety of vitamins and minerals that help your goat stay healthy. Fed as a snack to supplement your goat’s existing diet, it can change both the smell and color of your goat’s urine, though, which can be alarming but is nothing to worry about.
That said, it’s important to monitor how much asparagus your goat eats. While it only contains a low level of toxicity, it should never become the main part of your goat’s diet.
The 6 Health Benefits of Asparagus for Goats
When you’re careful to moderate your goat’s intake of asparagus, there are many health benefits that this vegetable can give them. Not only does asparagus give us humans a health boost, but it also has similar positive effects on our goats.
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1. Vitamins
Asparagus contains a wide variety of vitamins that support many important parts of your goat's body and inner workings.
Vitamin A keeps your goat’s lungs and kidneys in top working order.
Vitamin C supports growth, repair, and tissue development, along with your goat’s immune system.
Vitamin E is an important antioxidant.
Vitamin K is good for both bone and blood health.
2. Minerals
Vitamins aren't the only healthy nutrients packed into asparagus; it's also filled with numerous minerals to keep your goat in top shape.
Potassium prevents muscle degradation and supports bone density while maintaining a healthy fluid balance.
Calcium is great for goats of all ages, especially pregnant or lactating animals. It keeps your goat’s teeth and bones strong and healthy.
Phosphorous supports tissue and cell repair, along with helping to filter waste products from your goat’s system.
Folate, copper, and iron all work to ensure that your goat’s bones remain healthy, enabling them to keep bounding around their enclosure.
3. Fiber
Asparagus contains both soluble and insoluble fiber and is a great way to help support their digestive system.
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4. Amino Acids
While you might think that the only effect that asparagus has on your goat’s urinary tract is making their pee smell and change color, it also contains the amino acid, “asparagine.” This wards off infections and keeps everything working as it should.
5. Low Calorific Value
Not only does asparagus help us humans lose weight, but our goats can also benefit from the low-calorie count.
6. Breeding
The folate content of asparagus helps manage your goat’s red blood cells and even has a hand in ensuring that their DNA develops properly. It also has aphrodisiac properties if you’re trying to breed your goats.
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How to Feed Asparagus to Goats
Goats are either incredibly fussy or eat whatever is available. They’re particularly fond of anything leafy, which isn’t good news for your vegetable patch. It may even lead to them devouring asparagus leaves while forgoing the asparagus itself.
Asparagus can be fed to your goat in two ways, depending on how fussy your pet is. Many goats will eat it raw, whether you drop it into their food dish or they stumble across it growing wild as they graze. Other goats find the raw texture too tough, though. In this case, you can offer it boiled or steamed to make it easier for them to eat.
The 6 Other Foods Safe for Goats
Besides asparagus, many other vegetables make healthy snacks for your goat. In particular, you want to look out for vegetables in the Cucurbitaceae, Compositae, Umbelliferae, Gramineae, and Leguminosae families.
This list doesn’t give you all the vegetables that you can feed your goat, but it’ll give you a head start in making sure your goat’s diet is balanced.
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1. Broccoli
Although it’s part of the Cruciferous family, broccoli can be fed to your goat raw, boiled, or steamed. However you serve it, broccoli will support your goat’s immune system.
2. Carrots
Filled with beta-carotene, carrots are ideal for helping support your goat’s eyesight.
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3. Lettuce
The high calcium content in lettuce helps keep your goat’s bones and teeth strong and healthy.
4. Spinach
This dark, leafy vegetable is a great antioxidant and high in folates.
5. Squash
High in manganese, squash helps maintain bone and teeth health and can be served chunked or mashed.
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6. Pumpkin
Pumpkins in particular are a great sweet food for your goat to enjoy, along with acting as a natural dewormer.
What Foods Are Poisonous to Goats?
While goats are hardy animals and can eat many things that might surprise you, there are several foods that they can’t tolerate. The toxicity of some vegetables is one reason that — along with the destruction of your home garden — you should make sure your vegetable patch is safe from goat invaders.
Keeping your goat away from these foods will help ensure that they live long and healthy lives:
Amaryllidaceae family, e.g., onions and garlic
Polygonaceae family, e.g., rhubarb
Nightshade family, e.g., tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants
Chocolate
Citrus fruits
Caffeine
Can Goat Kids Eat Asparagus?
If you breed your goats, you’re probably wondering whether the kids can eat asparagus too. This depends on how old they are.
Newborn goats should only ever be fed their mother’s milk. It contains the nutrients that support their immune system and help them grow well. You can start introducing vegetables to their diets when you wean them off milk, but they may find the texture of asparagus difficult to chew, swallow, and digest at first.
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Conclusion
Asparagus is a healthy addition to both human and goat diets. Not only is it full of necessary vitamins and minerals, but it’s also a tasty snack and low in calories for weight-watching diets. Goats can eat it raw, or if they’re not fond of the tough texture, serving it boiled or steamed is an option.
While asparagus only contains a little toxicity, there’s still a chance that it will negatively affect your goat’s health if you feed them too much. Make sure asparagus doesn’t become the main part of your goat’s diet, and only feed it to them as a snack to ensure a healthy, balanced, and nutritional diet.
