Frequently (and not so frequently) Asked Questions
BRIEF: Is goldenrod harmful to sheep?
QUESTION:
I was reading an article that mentioned goldenrod and sheep. The article
stated **Although goldenrod does not bloom until late summer, this plant grows
slowly in fields from May through August. It may be harmful to sheep in any
stage.**
Would you have any information on this? I am afraid that the area that we
just fenced in for our sheep may contain goldenrod.
ANSWER:
The kind of goldenrod that we have around here (many species of the Solidago
genus) is harmless to sheep and just about everything else. Sheep eat it
readily, but I wouldn't plant it as a forage, since the yield of leaves per
acre is smaller than the good forage plants that might have grown in the same
spot. So it is a weed, just not a toxic one. I am not even sure it is a hay
fever hazard; its pollen is too heavy and sticky to blow around much so it
gets blamed for allergies caused by other plants blooming at the same time. So
even if people (or sheep) were allergic to it, it is hard to breathe enough
pollen to do anything.
BUT!!!!!!!!
There is a plant that grows in the Southwest also called goldenrod by the
locals (rayless goldenrod by the botanists), that is not from the genus
Solidago, but is of the species Haplopappus heterophyllus. This stuff is nasty
and contains a toxin (trematone) similar to the one we find in white snakeroot
(Eupatorium rugosum) here in the Northeast. It can not only harm animals that
eat it, but it is passed along in the milk.