Goats are often reputed to be indiscriminate eaters that devastate landscapes, leading to the common question of whether they destroy grass. The answer is conditional: they can, but their destructive impact on pasture is often a misunderstanding of their natural diet and foraging style. Goats are fundamentally different from traditional livestock like cattle and sheep. Recognizing their unique browsing behavior is key to understanding their effect on a grassland ecosystem, as damage usually occurs when they are forced away from their preferred foods.
Understanding Goat Dietary Preferences
Goats are classified as browsers, meaning their preferred diet consists of the leaves, twigs, and bark of woody plants, along with weeds and brush. This preference stands in contrast to grazers, such as cattle, which primarily consume shorter grasses directly from the ground. Given a choice, a goat will typically prioritize a varied diet rich in high-fiber browse, often consuming more than 80% of its intake from shrubs and trees.
This browsing habit makes goats highly effective for targeted vegetation management, such as clearing invasive species or heavy brush that other livestock ignore. They select for the most digestible parts of plants and eat a wider range of species than sheep or cattle.
While goats will consume grass, they usually do so when the grass is mature, woody, and tall, or when preferred browse material is unavailable. This natural inclination to eat from the top down also lowers their risk of ingesting internal parasite larvae, which are concentrated near the soil surface.
How Goats Physically Damage Vegetation
The physical damage goats inflict on grass is distinct from their diet, occurring primarily through their foraging action and their hooves. Unlike dedicated grazers that have evolved a highly efficient clipping mechanism, a goat’s feeding action on short pasture is often destructive to the plant’s root system. All ruminants lack upper incisors, using a hard dental pad to press against their lower teeth for a shearing action.
However, when goats are forced to graze short grass, their feeding motion frequently results in them yanking the plant by the root rather than cleanly cutting the blade. This tearing action, a consequence of their head movement being better suited for nipping at browse, permanently kills the grass plant.
The second major mechanism of destruction is hoof action, particularly in high-density or confined conditions. When soils are waterlogged, goat hooves can cause “pugging,” where the surface soil is churned, damaging the sod and destroying the soil structure. This compaction drastically limits root growth and water infiltration, which can significantly reduce subsequent pasture yields.
Strategies for Sustainable Goat Grazing
Preventing grassland destruction requires managing goats according to their natural browsing behavior, not treating them as conventional grazers. The most effective strategy is implementing a system of rotational grazing, which involves moving the animals frequently before they can cause localized damage. This mimics the movement patterns of wild herds, ensuring plants have sufficient time to recover and regrow after being eaten.
In a rotational system, goats are typically kept in a small paddock for a short duration, often just one to three days, and the area is then rested for 30 to 60 days depending on the season and plant growth rate.
Maintaining an appropriate stocking density is equally important, as overcrowding exacerbates both the root-pulling and pugging problems. For intensive rotational grazing, a conservative starting rate of six to eight goats per acre allows land managers to gauge forage production and adjust the numbers accordingly. Using goats for targeted browsing—clearing weeds and brush first—protects the underlying grass by providing their preferred food source and preventing them from resorting to damaging the pasture.