Meet the bane of our New Mexico existence:
Puncturevine, a.k.a. goatheads:
It’s definitely a plant that’s designed to survive. From the time a goathead seed sprouts until it blooms and starts to form seeds usually only takes two to three weeks. Turn your head for a second and this happens:
A ginormous, proliferating, tire puncturing, noxious weed:
Wondering why we call them goatheads? Here’s why:
Not everyone at Morning Bray Farm shares Don’s and my disdain for goatheads though.
The Boyz and Gracie think they’re delish:
Really? It’s gotta be like eating thumbtacks:
From goatheads.com:
The seed is an amazing product of natural selection. The seed coat is extremely durable (as you well know if you’ve ever stepped on one with a bare foot) and in the right conditions can last upwards of 20 years. Each fruit or burr separates into five separate segments. Each segment has two to four seeds inside it.
Morning Bray Farm 
June 25, 2012 at 4:55 am
Okay. Just a thought here. If they eat them and they come out the other end, is the seed still viable in the manure pile? Just wondering so you don’t “replant” them by mistake. (Wouldn’t that be sad?)
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June 25, 2012 at 5:52 am
C,
And they’d be fertilized. Yes, it would be sad. 🙂
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June 25, 2012 at 5:57 am
I wonder if goats head, like other ground covers, disappears after larger shade growth takes firm root. I built an old style 10,000 sq ft post and beam barn in another State for some folks and constantly had to fight this growth that wanted to cover the bare soil we had excavated. After we had planted trees etc, the growth declined to only the bare earth areas. I guess something has to hold what little soil is there from rains and wind. BTW…Love your donks! JW
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June 25, 2012 at 6:59 am
campfireshadows,
You’re on to something. Also from goatheads.com:
Weaknesses are to be exploited. Puncturevine doesn’t compete well with other vegetation. I have minimized the growth of this plant by merely encouraging natural vegetation to cover the open areas and reduce the potential for growth. A healthy lawn will choke out puncturevine in a short time. Contrary to popular belief, over watering puncturevine will not kill it. In fact it will very likely make it grow like crazy. I think this comes from the fact that wet areas are seldom devoid of vegetation and that by itself will discourage Puncturevines from growing. Watering dry areas and encouraging the seed to sprout is a good idea as long as you go spray within one to two weeks. The same goes after a rain.
Thanks… we love our donks too! 🙂
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June 25, 2012 at 7:21 am
Ouch Ouch Ouch Ouch!!! I hate those things. And I can’t believe that the donks actually eat it.
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June 25, 2012 at 7:23 am
I’d rather have my ugly Mexican Poppy any day. At least it stands up tall and announces its presence!
I can’t believe the donkeys love it… I guess you could just turn them out and let them forage in your yard! Oh, wait, yeah, they’d probably find so many other things to eat!
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June 25, 2012 at 7:52 am
Boggled that something that punctures tires doesn’t put holes in those velvet donkey lips!
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June 25, 2012 at 7:59 am
I hate goatheads, and you are right, they hurt when stepped on with bare or sock feet. Donks must have very tough tongues and lips to eat them and the cholla.
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June 25, 2012 at 8:50 am
The day you went and got a tumbleweed from your turkey neighbor and the donkeys just chowed down on it, I was speechless, but goatheads too? Oh goodness. I brought some home on my shoes from the cookie run the other day. I hate those sticky ickies. Glad there is a use for everything in nature though…..I guess. Oma Linda
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June 25, 2012 at 9:08 am
I’ve never heard of this! I thought it might have some nutritional value that they instinctively recognized, but the only thing Wikipedia mentions is possibly enhancing testosterone, sexual performance. Maybe they just like the crunchiness.
Speaking of sharp! Wikipedia had this interesting factoid:
“It has been reported that the seeds or nutlets have been used in homicidal weapons smeared with the juice of Acokanthera venenata in southern Africa.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris
Ouch!! LOL!!
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June 25, 2012 at 10:02 am
Ouch! Ouch! Don’t know how your guys can eat this or the chollas. Yikes! They’re tougher than we are 🙂
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June 25, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Is that a plant native to the area, or is it invasive?
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June 25, 2012 at 8:56 pm
grackleandsun,
Good question. Also from goatheads.com:
NATIVE RANGE: Eurasia and Africa.
ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES: The seed pods of the plant probably contaminated the wool of sheep imported from the Mediterranean region into the Midwestern United States. Puncturevine was first reported in California in 1903.
INFESTATIONS: Worst infested states: Puncturevine is widespread; the worst infestations are in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas.
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June 25, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Goathead? I must admit I never heard of this but wonder why the name? Once again, we are reminded there is reason for everything in this amazing world created by God! Fodder for donkeys at least…but I agree this has to be hard to chew, no?
Thanks for an interesting post! Hugs to the Boyzs and Gracie!
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June 25, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Gorgeous pictures of such a noxious weed! Great picture of the “herd” chowing down the “bad weed”! Thanks for the info….. I really did not know why they called them Goat Heads!
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June 25, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Well shoot! We don’t have any on our property. I can’t imagine why. We just about every other species of pokey, prickly, evil plant on our place. That website says I should have them, too. Too bad—NOT!
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June 25, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Wow, they look pretty tenacious and delicious, too, evidently.
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June 25, 2012 at 7:33 pm
What Vicki in Michigan said!!!!!
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June 26, 2012 at 12:12 am
I hate this stuff….we have it too and I spend all my time trying to get rid of the dang stuff!!!!! If you know a way pass it on…hate it….ouch and it spreads terribly!!!
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June 26, 2012 at 12:49 am
Oh goatheads spiced with thumtacks……….. seems to be yummy!
I never heard from this plant before. Maybe you let it grow on a small defined place for your boys pleasure 🙂
Liebe Grüße,
Pia
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June 26, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Wowza! I had no idea the donkeys would even eat such a plant. Thistles, I get. Goatheads… not so much. It’s even more of a dichotomy to see those soft, fuzzy noses and lips chowing down on prickers. To each their own, right? 😀
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June 26, 2012 at 1:22 pm
I can’t believe the donkeys love to eat this plant..
I never heard from this plant before…
(Is it a desert plant endemic from New Mexico and adjacency?)
Just now I read your reply to grackleandsun.
The nature is very powerful indeed.
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July 5, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Seeing your donkeys eating those spiky things reminds me of when we had pigs; the LOVED thistles! I used to cringe watching them chomp their way through a pile of the prickly plants!
Christine
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July 9, 2012 at 6:45 pm
They don’t even LOOK like a nice plant.
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