Feeding animals clippings from fruit trees during shemitah
Question
I live in a moshav and I have a petting zoo with seven goats.
Every so often I prune the trees in the garden, such as olive, loquat, avocado, and mango trees, and feed the clippings to the goats. I wanted to know if I can continue doing this during the shemitah year with the olive trees (which are growing only for ornamental purposes; I don’t use or eat the olives)?
Answer
Dr. Mordechai Shomron, agronomist
During the shemitah year it is forbidden to prune trees. Furthermore, we cannot feed animals branches of fruit trees since the fruit is edible for humans. The goats will be happy to eat grass.