What is one of the most dangerous things to a year old orchard you planted? Turns out your hungry dairy goats in the winter!
I thought I adequately posted and fenced off these goats. Turns out, I thought wrong! These goats pushed in the fences as much as they could to get to the branches. There seems to be something about the sweetness of the wood and bark in fruit trees that goats enjoy. I did not have to prune any of my trees as the goats took back all the branches over the winter.
Before spring I reset the fences and tried to shore up the gaps, which helped save a few. What I was not expecting was the goats pushing the fences over or apart to reach the fresh leaves. I have subsequently lost about half the trees and was set back in my orchard goals.
My recommendation is to always have strong cattle panel rings around all size fruit trees if goats are also given access.
Why let your goats into an orchard?
This was a calculated experiment on my part. We increased our dairy goat herd and are working to improve our land. The majority of our new property is timber and pond leaving little space for an orchard. I have planted fruit trees on both sides of the chicken coop, which the chickens have a fenced in area for protection, yet also have the ability to forage.
Pest control, land improvement, and no mowing required were all goals in this experiment. Fruit trees take years to establish so I wanted to start fast. I unfortunately lost two peach trees, 1 plum, and 3 apple. One of those apples was an older established one we got with the property, which was in bad shape and I was working to possibly save.
I am not a full time homesteader, to read more about our family check out our why we homestead post. The blog is to pass on lessons learned when I find time to write. We are a growing family seeking to improve our food sources from the land we are blessed with. If I had the time to build a proper barrier initially, that would have been best. Balancing the homesteading goals with life sometimes results in less than stellar ideas that create losses. Live and learn, do not let fear of failure prevent you from trying! Read some, maybe apply these tips, and jump in!
So lets talk solutions!
I desired to keep access to the orchard as I let the goats mow for me. This approach demanded better barriers to protect the trees. Accounting for this in the beginning results in saved money. Hopefully you do not find yourself here!
Zip ties make a large difference in fence integrity. I originally did not zip tie the fence to the post or to each other. Relying on small gauge left over fencing from our border fence without the post integrity gave the goats an opening they took advantage of.
Actual T post
I used the cheaper post originally. This provides the shape of a circular barrier that has minimal strength. Mentally the wall was in place and I applauded myself on reusing excess materials with no extra money input. Goats have loads of time on their hooves, the first nibbles of a branch draw a step into the fencing to reveal that next bite. Soon those cheaper post bend along with my thin gauge fence. The extra couple dollars for solid fence T-post are necessary is you wish to protect trees.
If you use weaker fencing, solid post with the fence tightly attached to are a must. Keep the fence tight to minimize the amount of flex between post. Make the overlap of fencing occur at a post. These actions will help improve your barrier and possibly keep the goats off your trees for slightly longer.
Old tomato cages – Emergency Fix barely effective
Yes, repurpose those cages! Not in a spike manner but upside down a trio of tomato cage rings make a solid structure that prevents a weaker wire fence from being pushed in as much. This was also a temporary solution to the fact I did not tighten any of the fencing around the post. It failed to protect a peach tree as the cages collapsed (not 100% effective).
The end result was a plum and apple tree being saved! Tomato cages without a fence on the outside would not be a sufficient barrier to protect your trees. This only gave extra structure to my weak post and fencing to provide some strength. I would list this as an emergency quick solution if you already joined me on a weak fence approach!
Cattle Panels
The fortress that I highly recommend. If you are investing 40 dollars or more in a new tree, add another 40 to put a sturdy protective barrier around it. This is what Ii have shifted most of ours to in the effort to protect the trees. Though they are hard to bend (I often just make a tear drop with the large panel vice actually bending it, keeps it more useable for fencing later) that feature helps keep the goats from pushing in any sides! Just be sure to use strong zip ties on the end to prevent the fence from forcing itself back to a flat line
Physical Separation
My orchard is currently set up on either side of the chicken run. This was my design to provide a reduced bug pressure for these trees as they start to fruit. However that placed a few trees intermixed with our garden while the other trees are in the pasture with the goats and cow. Our property layout does not afford for physical separation of the orchard from the pasture which would have prevented this challenge. On the garden side, the barriers are still in place to keep deer off the trees! Just because you do not own goats does not mean other animals may want to try eating your trees.
Large trees are not safe
We had one apple tree that was on the property when we bought it. This tree was in pretty poor shape, not pruned and I thought I killed it in my attempt to get it under control. One year later and the tree seemed to be improving. Fruit was still only fit for the chickens and goats. Two years later and the goats had stripped the bark off the entire tree during the winter….now the tree truly is dead.
Closing thoughts
Goats have many benefits to a homestead. Though we have sold ours and transitioned to a cow, I still appreciate all the lessons we learned while keeping and milking goats. With that said, our stress level has greatly reduced with just having a cow! If you are set on keeping goats, and you want them to eat in the orchard, hopefully the orchard is well established. Goats browse and will eat branches and leaves off trees. You need to protect the trees! Use these tips and don’t lose a year or more of dedicated growth time on the trees you planted!