Someone has suggested to me that I feed "dock" to my goats as a treat. I am assuming that they meant (what I call) coffee dock. It's a weed that grows in the field and turns dark brown in the fall and all the little seeds look like coffee grounds. Has anyone else fed this and what is it good for? Is it medicinal?

-- Charleen inWNY (harperhill@eznet.net), September 19, 2001

Answers

Hi,

Does the weed have a reddish, thick stem? If yes, I feed it as treats to my goats. I didn't know the name of it so I call it "Fiona weed" after Fiona the Naughty Nubian.

I'm harvesting the weed this year by stacking it in cardboard boxes and putting them in the mow.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), September 20, 2001.

Go to www.google.com and do a search on "dock plant", or maybe "dock plant poison". Point is, dock is poisonous - contains oxalic acid. A little as a treat probably wouldn't be dangerous, but you would be teaching them to eat it, and that might be dangerous if they later happened across a patch of it. Look it up and you'll have a basis for making your own decisions.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), September 20, 2001.

I did a Google search on the weed Dock. I believe what I have is Curly Dock (Rumex Crispus).

From what I can gather, Curly Dock is toxic especially to sheep and cattle if the leaves are eaten in large quanity. I couldn't find anything regarding the toxicity of the seeds which is what Fiona is so fond of. Also, all types of Dock are used as human medicinal herbs, but the leaves must be will cooked or they can be toxic if eaten in large quanities.

I couldn't find anything pertinent to goats, and the horses won't touch the stuff. I'm going to e-mail my local Cooperative Extension to see what they have to say on the subject. Until I hear Fiona and Kiera will not get any dock treats.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), September 21, 2001.