Garden Surplus Yields Winter Treats for Goats
Our summer garden always produces more vegetables than we can possibly eat and preserve. We share some of the surplus as treats for our chickens. Our goats also get a small share of the bounty. But during the summer they also have plenty of green pasture to graze. So we dry most of the garden surplus to serve as winter treats for the goats.
Our Excalibur dehydrator runs nearly every day all summer, making treats for the goats when it isn’t making treats for ourselves. By summer’s end we have several 5-gallon buckets filled with dried treats consisting of a variety of tasty and nutritious vegetables. Come winter, when we parcel them out, our Nubian goats go bonkers when they see us open a treats bucket. Here’s what goes into the buckets:
Cucumbers
We first got the idea of drying treats for the goats when we had way more cucumbers than we could deal with. Initially they were pickling cucumbers that got overlooked until they were too big.
Later we discovered White Wonder, also known as Albino or Long White, cucumbers. They grow fast, and big — each cuke is 7 to 8 inches long and weighs a pound and a half, or more. The vines are extremely prolific. And the white fruits are easy to spot buried under the dark green leaves. Cucumbers are the mainstay of the treat buckets.
Since White Wonder is an OP heirloom, we save seeds from them each year. To prevent cross pollination with our pickling cukes, we save seed from White Wonders that develop from blossoms appearing after we’re done pickling.
Zucchini
Zucchini is another vegetable that gets big fast. Cha-ching, our favorite cultivar, produces nice, big, meaty zukes to dehydrate for our treat buckets. The plants have an open growth habit that lets in air and sunlight, making them less prone to bugs and diseases than other varieties we’ve tried. Unfortunately, it’s a hybrid, but it’s firmer and more flavorful than any of the heirlooms we’ve grown in the past.
Green Beans
Nash green beans are an important staple in our pantry. The plants are so prolific we have a hard time keeping the beans picked, and often some of them get more mature than we like. We dry the too-big ones and toss them into the treat buckets for variety. Toward the end of the season we let any remaining pods dry on the plants, and save the seeds for next year.
Sweet Potatoes
Our goats and chickens both like sweet potatoes raw. And since sweets keep really well, we dole them out throughout the winter. When we still have some left by the time the next year’s crop is ready to harvest, we slice them up and dry them for the treats buckets. We’ve been growing the same delicious and prolific variety for many years, but never did know what it’s called.
Mangels
We started growing mammoth mangels to feed our goats, but we soon found that chickens love them, too. Both chickens and goats like them raw, but the goats also like them dried, and mangels add variety to the treat bucket. When the beets and greens are young and tender, we eat them, too.
Mangels have white flesh and red skin. They grow really well in our mostly clay soil. They can grow 2 feet long and weigh as much as 20 pounds. Mangel beets are typically grown in the fall, but we have better luck planting them in early spring. The heirloom seeds are getting hard to find. Where garden space permits, letting some go to seed each year is a good idea.
Potimarron
Any kind of winter squash makes a good addition to the goat treats bucket. Our favorite is a maxima variety we call potimarron, the French name for red kuri squash. Well, to be honest, I call it potimarron. My husband, for reasons known only to himself, calls it Patty Malone.
Both chickens and goats love this squash raw. But the plants produce so many 3 to 4 pound pumpkins that we always have plenty to dry, as well. And, of course, we save the seeds.
Misc Vegs
Other surplus vegetables that find their way into the treats buckets include apples, cabbage, carrots, and rutabaga. The more variety we include, the higher the nutritional value of our dried winter treats for goats.
Most of our goats greedily devour anything that comes out of the treats buckets. But some of the more finicky members of our herd have definite preferences. So a second advantage to providing variety is that the pickiest goats always find something they like.