Not long after Ginger and Clover arrived here at Seven Valleys Goat Farm, we were still not completely finished with the fencing of the goat's yard. One morning our family arrived home after a sleepover at Grammy and Granddads (who live an hour away in Maryland) to find Ginger and Clover relaxing on our back porch just outside the kitchen door. Bleating hello to us as we drove up. I was immediately worried that the girls may have eaten some of the many toxic plants (to goats) that populate our back yard. Yew, Boxwood, Rhododendron, Azalea. We have all of those bushes in abundance - it's as though the previous residents had a dastardly plan for any unsuspecting goats of the future... Ginger and Tulip seemed fine, and thus we led them back to their yard and forgot all about the event. The next morning when I walked into the barn, it was a very disturbing scene. Ginger was vomiting and yelling in obvious pain; she had no interest in her breakfast (this in itself indicating an extremely serious situation). I rushed her to the vet where her stomach was pumped (Dr. Lukacs showed me a boxwood leaf he found in her regurgitation) and she was given charcoal; her condition was very delicate and was given a 50/50 chance of survival. We brought her home hoping that she'd make it. She did. Two days later she was able to eat again, and slowly became herself again. Clover never showed any signs of poisoning. After that we fixed the fence, and we attempt to keep them far from those dastardly bushes on each trek to and from their pasture (they have to pass through our yard, then cross the street to get there).
I am finally getting around to just removing those bushes. The baby girls always seem to head right for the bad bushes and take the biggest bites possible, gulping them down! It's as if they know they shouldn't have it but cannot resist! It's difficult for me to herd four goats such a great distance through the gamut of poisons. So I will slowly but surely rid our property of the hazards. I'm telling you, we have a lot, and some are gigantic and grotesquely overgrown!
sawing down one of the Boxwoods
1 comment:
Boxwood, Rhodies, Yew? It sounds like the previous owners had excellent taste - esp. if they kept the plants well sheared. All three plants are traditional in the English garden, with Boxwood and Yew standard subjects for exquisite topiary.
FWIW We have a couple head of cattle who recently ate 2/3 of a small boxwood (Buxus Sempervirens 'Suffruticosa') that I removed from a hedgerow as it looked like it may have a virus. I foolishly put it in a shady spot near the fence thinking I'd deal with it later. Found the remnant mostly eaten, and with the soil eaten off the roots. The cattle appear fine - may have gotten a stomach ache, no observable ill effects.
Greg
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