# Using Acorns for grain



## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

We have a ton of really nice acorns this year. The cow is constantly under the trees eating them and I'm kinda thinking she might make herself sick. So I'm thinking about picking them up and then I could use them for grain for the goats later? Does anyone have a nutritional profile for acorns, I know they are supposed to be high in protein. Should they not be used for bucks?


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

NO I would not use acorns for grain. They can be toxic. do some research. Now that being said yes my goats eat acorns and oak leaves from time to time with no ill effects but I sure wouldn't use them to supplement diet.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2008)

I would never feed acorns as grain to goats. They can be poisonous if too many are consumed. Do some research.

Like Sondra, mine also eat oak leaves and a few acorns from time to time. However, neither would ever be supplemented as a portion of their grain.

Sorry Ashley, but if I had to resort to feeding like this then that means I have too many animals and it's time to cut down on the number of mouths to be fed.

Sara


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Just in case you don't agree, I did a little research for you.

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-BE_cca/INF-BE_cca01/INF-BE_cca0101.html


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I never said I had to, I just like to be efficient. If I'm going to have to pick these up to keep the cow from ODing, would like to use them for something as well. 

My understanding was excessive acorns were toxic, but in moderation were just fine. Any rich food will make them sick if they get too much. I will look it up and read on it again. It's been a while. I think it was the tannins?


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Oh thanks for the link Sondra.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

This is talking about a diet 50% in acorns causing problems. I'm really not trying to be argumentative, but I don't see how a little bit of acorns can hurt them. So many people have goats that are out and eat them this time of year. Mine eat a few on their walks.

And, I'm sorry, I realize my first post I made it sound like I might use them for the entire grain ration, I didn't mean that, but rather to add some to their oats so the acorns don't go to waste and up the protein a little. Deer are ruminants and they eat a lot of them this time of year to fatten for winter. A good acorn crop is always seen as a good thing for the deer.

But that cow is under those trees constantly, so think I need to get them out of there. She was so obsessed with them this morning, she wouldn't come for her alfalfa hay :really


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## SherrieC (Oct 26, 2007)

I used to have a recipe book, that told how to make acorn flour. Look it up to be sure if youre interested. Take a bucket of acorns, soak them in water, here's the foggy part I can't remember if its overnite? rinse, soak again, 2 - 3 times, this leaches out the tannin. after drying grind as needed into flour. I don't think it would hurt the livestock to have an acorn or two every once in a while.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Yes and I would use them in a minute to eat myself but there are things you have to do to them in order to do that. However NO WAY am I going to take a chance of gathering up acorns and feeding them to my goats. Just in my opinion it is taking a chance and my goats are worth more to me than that. Not in anyway meaning to be rude but would you go out and gather up tomatoes /squash/potatoes extra and feed them to your goats? Would you not give CD/T shots on the off chance they won't get tetnus or that it doesn't necessarily protect against entro in all cases? Of course this is all my opinion and if you want to take this chance then I hope it works for you.


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

My goats eat oak leaves and acorns all day all year long. Their browse is 8 acres of oak woods. I don't gather the acorns for them, they find them themselves, but the acorns haven't had any adverse effects on them that I can tell.

Tiffany


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I know Tiffany and my goats do to but gathering and giving them to goats is a whole different story. Think abt it your goats are well fed they go out to browse, now just how many acorns to you think they actually pick up and eat. They will eat the leaves all day long but only pick at the acorns, I know because when I first got goats I was so worried they would eat them I went out and sat and watched. That was after I initially raked them all up so the goats wouldn't eat them. I only have two trees so it wasn't all that hard to do, but I got tired of it every morning. So I sat and watched.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2008)

I'm gonna throw this in just for the heck of it.

When it comes to what a deer eats. I guess I've gutted about as many as anybody, and I almost always check to see what they've been eating lately. I really don't believe that I've ever seen over about 25% acorns in the rumin. It's always mixed in with lots of other twigs, leaves, grass, honeysuckle....and other stuff.

As long as my goats eat the acorns out from under my trees in a very "natural" way (meaning that they are eating other junk too) , then I don't worry about them at all. 

I have my doubts that a handful of acorns mixed in with a gallon of "goat feed" is going to hurt them.....but I'd sure be careful with this whole idea if I did.

JMO ....Whim


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Mine eat a few on their walks.

.................

This is the difference, we likely have a thousand oaks minimum here, and the goats eat leaves, downed trees, although we got alot of them out of the pastures up by the barns quickly because it was way over the top too much for them to have, and they eat acorns this time of year when they fall. But they also go out into browse that also contains more pine than oaks and lots of other brush and tall grasses to choose from. I don't keep my goats from eating anything, but I also don't choose forage that is high in tannins to take to my goats to eat.

The Mormon religion doesn't believe in ingesting tannins, and if you read why, although some has been the reason I am sure our worm burdens are nill to none most of the time...but overdone, it does give you a very good reason to limit the amount in our animals but certainly in us (single stomached animals).

Moderation is key...just because I live in the piney woods of east Texas I also am very careful about the free christmas trees I can get to feed, they are species of pines my goats are not used to. vicki


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## Haglerfarm (Aug 11, 2008)

My goats have eaten acorns for years. Their lot is partly an oak woods lot. There are a lot of acorns and they search them out. There are red and white oak trees, mostly red, I would guess.
They have never hurt them. At times I have noticed a darker poo. But, no problems.
Now, back when I deer hunted alot (1970s-1990). I also checked their stomach contents. When there were crops nearby they would have a good amount of corn and soybeans. But, there were always a huge amount of acorns, mostly white oak and honeysuckle. I am sure it would vary by region of the country and what is available for them to eat.
Les


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

> I know Tiffany and my goats do to but gathering and giving them to goats is a whole different story. Think abt it your goats are well fed they go out to browse, now just how many acorns to you think they actually pick up and eat. They will eat the leaves all day long but only pick at the acorns


I'll tell you, my goats, the last couple walks we went on, I have to urge them to move, they will start eating the acorns and I've been afraid they would eat too many. I think they would eat a lot if I let them. Their pen they stay in does not have any oak trees, so they have no access unless I feed them a few, or take them out on a walk.


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## Secondairy (Aug 12, 2008)

Our pasture/browse are contains two monster Oaks, and in my 22 years of living here I have never seen a single acorn fall from them. I don't worry about Acorns because of this, and it may be irrelevant, but anyone know why our two do not produce? Do only certain gender trees produce acorns? These are huge multi trunk trees, with tops at least 80'.

Kelly


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

depends on the type of oak I think

WRONG!! see below


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## Wendy Tinney (Jul 15, 2008)

I heard, that it takes oaks many, many yrs to start producing acorns. I don't remember how many yrs but remember being shocked at the amount of yrs it takes. 

Wendy


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Wendy you are so smart!!


> Acorn Production -- Oak trees can start producing acorns when they are 20 years old, but sometimes can go all the way to 50 years for the first production. By the time the tree is 70 to 80 years old it will produce thousands of acorns.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2008)

I had some doelings in a pen with some huge oak trees one year that were dropping tons of acorns. My wife called me at work and said one of the doelings was bloated bad. By the time I got home she was dead. I blamed the acorns, could have been something else I guess, but that was the only thing that had changed and they were eating the crap out of them. :shrug2 Having said that my does eat them all the time too. Too many oaks around the place to restrict them and I have never had any trouble with them. I know when we had hogs they used to eat them like crazy too. But I remember dad saying they would dry a sow up if they ate too many. :/


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

If you've ever had to treat a cow for tannin acid poisoning...you would certainly view acorns in another light. PANIC! Reason a lot of fall feeds (special mixes) contain lime. Yes, lime in the form of hydrated lime. 
In the last two years we've actually been given several 300-400# calves that were at death's door because their dams gorged on acorns and it passed in the milk. We managed to save them ( NO GRAIN, grass hay, and drenches twice a day for several days of baking soda (or sodium bicarb)...it can takes several weeks before they are strong enough and the diarrhea turns to brown sludge instead of water.

Let them browse, eat acorns, whatever...but keep in back of your mind...brown water, diarrhea, bloat and/or drastic weight loss, think back to the acorns. Tanic acid will also greatly influence (as in lower, considerably) milk production.

With that said....I'm not getting out in the pasture and picking up acorns so the goats don't eat them...but, it is something in the back of my mind, if someone gets a loose stool.
Kaye


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## Sunny Daze (Jan 14, 2008)

When I was younger we had a pot bellied pig who would sit under the oak tree and gorge himself on acorns. One day we noticed little bloody hoof prints on the sidewalk. His hooves were swollen and bleading (founder maybe?). He did recover ok but we blamed the acorns. I know its not a goat, but since then I have always tried to watch out if they start eating too many...


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 27, 2007)

My does spend all day out in the oak woods these days searching for fallen acorns, but they are also eating other things. I do not worry about them, but for many reasons I would not save them for later and feed in their troughs. Too dangerous and really on top of the other dangers, are you going to be able to keep them from spoiling? If they are gathered at all, they tend to mold, etc. 
And yes, acorns will drop your milk production if they eat a lot of them.


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