Posted on 03/16/2010 12:53:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hundreds of goats browse through a field, nibbling and foraging through the available fare. These aren't just any goats, though they are the work force of Lariat Ranch Ecological Ser- vices.
The business, based in Powell Butte, owns nearly 400 head of Spanish Boer and San Clemente goats. The goats' job is to pursue their love of eating. Their tastes include noxious weeds found on the High Desert, such as medusahead, hemlock and Russian thistle.
Lariat Ranch is the only prescribed grazing company in Central Oregon. Prescribed grazing is a green way to clear fields without using chemical herbicides. A certain number of goats are placed in a fenced area and eat the noxious weeds that have overtaken the normal ecosystem.
Noxious weeds are non-native, invasive and sometimes toxic plants that easily seed and destroy the natural ecosystem. Nationally, it's estimated that invasive weeds are taking over 4,600 acres of land every day, or 1.5 million acres a year, according to research conducted by the University of Idaho.
Noxious weeds are up there with global warming and depletion of water, said Rachel Jones, 35, owner of the company. This is actually a huge deal, but it's on the back burner because people don't understand that we are losing our native habitat.
Lariat Ranch incorporated as a business last year after the Central Oregon Irrigation District approached Jones and her husband, Doug Muck, 44, to experiment with prescribed grazing on a small piece of land next to an irrigation canal.
I like to experiment with all methods of noxious weed treatment, said Larry Roofener, COID operations manager. That includes chemical application, mowing and biological methods that I would consider the goat operation to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at bendbulletin.com ...
Goats are actually QUITE good at weed control. But I don’t entirely agree with the article. If I remember correctly, milkweed is toxic to goats, as is hemlock. But they’ll try ANYTHING once! We have at least two every spring that we have to treat for bloat because they ate too much of something “new” and green. :-)
After passing through the disgetive tract, and when they "fall to the ground."...they germinate.
Presto! More weeds.
Now the more important question. How does kudzu-fed goat compare in taste with commerical after proper barbecuing? :)
Actually, come to think of it, kudzu is edible by humans, and, I think, is eaten by them in Asia, from whence it came.
It is eaten deep fried every year at the Kudzu Festival in Waxhaw, NC.
The leaves are indeed edible, but not all that tasty and rather tough. Kudzu starch from the roots is highly coveted in Asian cooking and is pretty pricey when you can find it in a specialty store. Personally, I'll stick with arrowroot starch from Penzeys (far superior to corn starch).
No kidding though, goats love kudzu and are very good at controlling it. You would need to supplement their diet, however, to keep the critters in optimum health.
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