Posted on 01/13/2015 5:02:29 PM PST by Lorianne
Each country has its own invasive species and rampant plants with a tendency to grow out of control. In most, the techniques for dealing with them are similar - a mixture of powerful chemicals and diggers. But in the US a new weapon has joined the armoury in recent years - the goat.
In a field just outside Washington, Andy, a tall goat with long, floppy ears, nuzzles up to his owner, Brian Knox.
Standing with Andy are another 70 or so goats, some basking in the low winter sun, and others huddled together around bales of hay.
This is holiday time - a chance for the goats to rest and give birth before they start work again in the spring.
Originally bought to be butchered - goat meat is increasingly popular in the US - these animals had a lucky escape when Knox and his business partner discovered they had hidden skills.
"We got to know the goats well and thought, we can't sell them for meat," he says. "So we started using them around this property on some invasive species. It worked really well, and things grew organically from there."
They are now known as the Eco Goats - a herd much in demand for their ability to clear land of invasive species and other nuisance plants up and down America's East Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
For later
Goat milk ain’t all that bad.
Inquiring minds need to know...
Are all these goats halal or makruh?
Will they all have to go through metal and explosive detectors?
Pictured are what appear to be Boer goats. They are a meat goat. I intend to get a few does to maintain the fencelines. If I can ever get the fences back up where they need to be.
I was surprised they will eat conifer needles, don't know about the sharp ones.
They may be doing rosarians an especially big favor in time, eating up all the multi-flora roses which are ground zero for spreading the dreaded rose rosette disease. It turns garden roses into witches' broom type growth which is reddish, possibly can be treated but best to put the infected plant in a garbage bag, dig it out, and burn it. It's a mite that drifts in the wind that spreads it.
I want some goats. I love goats' milk and saw some in the store last time I was there so may treat myself to some.
There's a link at the source article for a map of every goat in the US, a lot especially in Texas.
I tried to like it. They said if you milk them and then chill the milk super fast the goaty taste won't come through.
Which is true. Until you burp, then that taste which is equivalent to the smell of their skin comes right up in your mouth.
I even made cheese out of it, hoping to like it. No dice.
A grizzled old local told me, "Get some goats, they'll clear the place up for you in no time. They love Poison Ivy!" Equipping myself with a herd of the interesting creatures at a farm auction in an ominously named town called "Tabernacle," I turned them loose on the family demesne. Well, I'm here to tell you that they ate everything. Ancient Rose bushes, peonies, forsythia, spirea, Irises, Lily'o'The Valley, astilbe, rhododendrons, Laurels, holly trees, hollyhocks, marigolds, tulips (o they love tulips) daffodils, etc. If it was in the White Flower Farm Catalog, these goats ate it as it it were a gourmet salad.
There was one (1) plant they would not eat. Poison Ivy. Which, I am happy to report, eventually succumbed to a winter campaign of homemade country napalm. (Diesel, Used Motor Oil, TSP, old gasoline, cheap liquid laundry detergent, etc.) Try it on a Poison Ivy covered stone wall. Betcha never knew how many snakes you had on the property!
The big vines were chopped, attached to the tractor and mile-long root systems pulled up. Just make sure you know which way the wind is blowing if you are of a mind to try this. And, you never heard it from me.
The Goats? ¡Ay Caramba, Señor, those who volunteered for barbacoa duty with the crew were delish, those selected for a herd, have many descendants ... who still do not eat Poison Ivy. Go for sheep. They do a better job on the lawn.
Poison ivy in Maine or were you someplace else?
We have some serious poison ivy in Texas and I am extremely sensitive to it. I am VERY careful!
I forgot to mention, cows eat poison ivy leaves but they don’t kill it. You have to poison the roots to kill it.
I have goats for sale if anyone is interested. I am on the far west side of Chicago. PM me if you’re interested.
Goats? Great idea! They’ll clear that kudzu right out! Look what they did to the the Sahara Desert! And we’ll have work for all our new Somali goatherd immigrants!
They will eat honey locust suckers, which is amazing considering the number of thorns. Those are dangerous trees!
I know some people who run goats on the BLM and Forest to eat invasive weeds. They give them aerial photos or satellite photos with the weed patches located and circled. The goats are herded there and kept on the patch until it is gone. They sell the young bucks to meat markets back east and call them Muslim turkeys because they are real popular around Thanksgiving.
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