There's continuing interest in green ways to handle environmental problems. Achieving invasive species control using goats is one method that is growing in popularity. These browsing animals have been used in southern states for decades to keep kudzu vines (excellent livestock feed, which is why it was introduced) from overwhelming the landscape.
You know how commercial beekeepers move their hives from blooming mono-crop to blooming mono-crop, to boost the yields by increasing pollination? Well, now goat herders are doing the same mobile service kind of thing. Some people have from 30 to 700 goats and they rent them out to landowners with a problem. Herders travel with their herds, putting up temporary fences where needed and making sure the goal of eradication is reached.
Public enterprises, like road maintenance departments, parks, and landfills, have the budgets to undertake the expense of renting these voracious animals. Areas where underbrush is growing too fast in woodlands, causing a fire hazard, can benefit from the herds, too. The goat does less damage than a bulldozer and is more easily controlled than a burn.
Private landowners may not be able to afford to lease a herd, but they can own their own. Penning goats in an area to be cleared is relatively simple. The animals don't need much more than the forage they're clearing and they can be sold to meat producers once the project is finished. Those without goat raising experience should learn about basic care and read up on plants that might be poisonous to livestock.
Many of our favorite plants are actually imported and can be invasive. Queen Anne's Lace and daisies are pretty in a field, and Dame's Rocket can be spectacular along a roadside. The scent of honeysuckle and multiflora rose on a summer's night is heavenly. However, many a gardener knows to nip the first honeysuckle vine in the bud and that that pretty flowering hedge rose can take over a neglected area faster than you'd think.
Goats are even being used to reclaim marshes, where exotic species are ruining the habitat of native plants, animals, and fish. A goat doesn't like wading around in water, but the herd will browse on the exposed tussocks and can eliminate as much as 80 percent of undesirable vegetation. This will give the original plants a window of opportunity to come back, or re-planting efforts a chance to succeed.
Goats love to browse on tree leaves and think honeysuckle and kudzu are ambrosia. They do a great job on poison ivy, a plant few want to clear by hand. A goat can live on this kind of nuisance plants, although those being prepared for the meat market might need a few months on alfalfa hay before the sale. In warmer areas where the goat can forage year round, it's easier to turn a profit.
A goat will eat almost anything of a weed, vine, or brush nature. They prefer variety, so sometimes they need to be penned in a problem area so they'll eat what needs to be eliminated. They are proving remarkably effective at helping people control overly vigorous plants.
You know how commercial beekeepers move their hives from blooming mono-crop to blooming mono-crop, to boost the yields by increasing pollination? Well, now goat herders are doing the same mobile service kind of thing. Some people have from 30 to 700 goats and they rent them out to landowners with a problem. Herders travel with their herds, putting up temporary fences where needed and making sure the goal of eradication is reached.
Public enterprises, like road maintenance departments, parks, and landfills, have the budgets to undertake the expense of renting these voracious animals. Areas where underbrush is growing too fast in woodlands, causing a fire hazard, can benefit from the herds, too. The goat does less damage than a bulldozer and is more easily controlled than a burn.
Private landowners may not be able to afford to lease a herd, but they can own their own. Penning goats in an area to be cleared is relatively simple. The animals don't need much more than the forage they're clearing and they can be sold to meat producers once the project is finished. Those without goat raising experience should learn about basic care and read up on plants that might be poisonous to livestock.
Many of our favorite plants are actually imported and can be invasive. Queen Anne's Lace and daisies are pretty in a field, and Dame's Rocket can be spectacular along a roadside. The scent of honeysuckle and multiflora rose on a summer's night is heavenly. However, many a gardener knows to nip the first honeysuckle vine in the bud and that that pretty flowering hedge rose can take over a neglected area faster than you'd think.
Goats are even being used to reclaim marshes, where exotic species are ruining the habitat of native plants, animals, and fish. A goat doesn't like wading around in water, but the herd will browse on the exposed tussocks and can eliminate as much as 80 percent of undesirable vegetation. This will give the original plants a window of opportunity to come back, or re-planting efforts a chance to succeed.
Goats love to browse on tree leaves and think honeysuckle and kudzu are ambrosia. They do a great job on poison ivy, a plant few want to clear by hand. A goat can live on this kind of nuisance plants, although those being prepared for the meat market might need a few months on alfalfa hay before the sale. In warmer areas where the goat can forage year round, it's easier to turn a profit.
A goat will eat almost anything of a weed, vine, or brush nature. They prefer variety, so sometimes they need to be penned in a problem area so they'll eat what needs to be eliminated. They are proving remarkably effective at helping people control overly vigorous plants.
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Find an overview of the benefits of invasive species control using goats and more info about a reliable goat breeder at http://browsinggreengoats.com today.