Types of Grass for Goats

Goats are very selective foragers.baby goats image by Earl Robbins from Fotolia.com

Goats are very active eaters and can easily cover large areas in search of their favorite plants. Their split upper lips and small mouths make it easy for them to pick the most nutritious plant parts in the form of small leaves, fruits and flowers. Goats select grasses with high protein content and easy digestibility and reject all materials that are lower in quality. Goats choose both warm and cool season grasses and legumes for foraging over brush and weeds.

Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is among the sod forming grasses and is a good grass for goats. The rhizomes or underground stems of the grass create a turf that protects the ground from erosion and soil compaction created by animal traffic. Tall fescue is hardy and low maintenance and provides high nutritional foraging for goats in its vegetative state. It performs very well for winter grazing due to its tolerance to cold and hooves.

Kentucky bluegrass is a recommended grass for goats as it creates a strong sod base. The grass increases naturally with grazing. The grass performs well when planted at higher elevations and in the northern regions of the mid-Atlantic. Kentucky bluegrass is the first choice to be mixed with white clover for goat foraging. Smooth bromegrass is another tall growing pasture grass and is often used in the northern areas for goat pastures.

Grasslands matua prairiegrass is also referred to as rescuegrass. The grass is a brome species and often just called matua. The grass was developed in New Zealand in the 1970s and the has been used in the United States extensively since the 1990s for goat foraging. Matua stands up very well to a variety of grazing situations and responds very well to applied nitrogen. Matua works very well when mixed with alfalfa. Some tips to maintain matua is to allow the seedheads to mature and seed drop to occur at least once a year. Many varieties of matua also overwinter very well. Natural seeding is required for the ones that do not in order to maintain the stand.