Prevalent Weeds in a Southern-Pine Silvopasture System Managed with Kiko Wethers

Kiko goats are considered to utilize a wide variety of vegetation present in the grazing land. However, not much information is available about weeds that are present in grazing systems managed with goats. The objective of this study was to document the major weeds present in a Southern-pine silvopasture system grazed with Kiko wethers. Southern-pine silvopasture plots (3, 0.4-ha each) were planted with cool- and warm-season forages to develop year-round grazing for goats. Trees in the silvopasture consisted of longleaf (Pinus palustris) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) species (longleaf:loblolly ratio 0.59) with 261 trees per ha; the trees were 11 yr old. Twenty Kiko wethers (21-23 m old) were rotationally stocked in the silvopasture plots to utilize the available forages from January to August 2016. Goats had free access to fresh water, mineral supplements, and shelters. Animals were taken off the plots when available forages were limited, and brought to other grazing sites. At the end of warm-season grazing in August, observations were taken on weeds present in the study plots and the percentage of defoliation that occurred on those weeds was recorded on a preformatted sheet. Data were analyzed for prevalence and extent of defoliation in SAS 9.4 using GLM procedure. Thirty-two weed species were detected in the study plots, among which nine species were prevalent. Poorjoe (Diodia teres Walter) was the most dominant species covering the greatest plot area (14.8 ± 1.02 %) and tropic croton (Croton glandulosus L.) was the least occurring species among the prevalent weeds. Horseweed (Conyza Less.) was the most defoliated species (21.5 ± 1.79%) followed by common ragweed (Ambrosia L.) (17.8 ± 1.79%) and poorjoe (11.5 ± 1.79%). Results suggest that goats may not readily eat several plant species present in the grazing system, and appropriate management strategies need to be considered to deal with these species.