Goats

Browsers, like goats, have a narrow, strong mouth with a dexterous tongue well designed for chewing branches and stripping individual leaves from woody stems. For this reason, goats are used extensively throughout the United States to manage invasive woody plants like juniper, saltcedar, and oak brush. Their smaller mouths give them the ability to selectively consume the highest quality leaves and stems, generally resulting in higher quality diets than cattle when grazing on the same range. A goat’s adaptation for browse often results in diets with higher crude protein but lower digestibility compared to sheep

Relative to body weight, goats also have larger livers than cattle or sheep, so they can more effectively process plants that contain secondary compounds like terpenes or tannins. This could explain why goats consume a higher percentage than sheep or cattle of leafy spurge, which contains a host of plant-defensive chemicals. Browsers are equipped with salivary glands that produce saliva, which binds tannins. They also possess specialized rumen microbes to break down alkaloids and other toxins in many situations.

Goats are physically agile animals that can stand on their hind legs to reach high-growing forage or use their forefeet to pull down branches to strip leaves. Smaller goats can even climb trees to gain access to higher forage. Their athletic nature enables goats to handle rougher and steeper terrain than sheep or cattle.

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