Today green solutions to environmental problems are all the rage, and they often work better than more drastic methods. Invasive species control using goats is one fairly recent innovation (except in the deep south, where the goat has been known as the best kudzu control for decades.) Both public and private landowners are turning to these browsing animals for help with imported plants that want to take over their new world.
Commercial beekeepers lease their hives to growers who need pollinators for their crops. When one crop has finished flowering, the bees are moved to another area. In the same way, goat herders take their herds where the weeds are. The herders put up temporary fencing when needed. Some of these entrepreneurs live like nomads, staying with their goats while they're on the road.
The cost of leasing ground-clearing herds is fairly high, so many clients are public facilities, like parks, landfills, wetlands, or roads. Goats can clear areas that are virtually inaccessible to heavy equipment, and they work cheaper than day laborers. They are useful in fire prevention, too; they eat the underbrush that grows in immature forests, thereby eliminating a fire hazard.
A private landowner may not have the budget for this. The answer might be to acquire a herd and use them to clear problem areas. Once the job is done, the animals can be sold to others with the same sort of problem. Anyone getting livestock should know about basic care and also be aware of plants that can harm grazing animals.
People may not realize that some of their favorite plants can be invasive exotics. Queen Anne's Lace and daisies look pretty, as does Dames Rocket. Honeysuckle perfumes the summer air, and multiflora rose makes attractive mounds of sweet-scented flowers. It's when these plants get out of control, like those pretty purple thistles, that problems arise. The imports can crowd out native species, interfere with crops, and encroach on cleared land.
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.
Controlling brush plants like Autumn or Russian olive, touch-me-not ones like poison ivy, or seemingly indestructible things like honeysuckle and kudzu without the use of herbicides is environmentally desirable. Often a herd owner will have a sideline meat production business to help off-set the expense of buying and keeping the animals. Especially in warmer areas with ample rainfall, where a goat can forage year-round, this can work.
If you need to get rid of vines, brush, or weeds, remember that a goat prefers these to grass. You may need to confine the herd to the problem area, since a goat likes variety and will stray if allowed. They are very, very good at controlling even the most vigorous plants that are in your way.
Commercial beekeepers lease their hives to growers who need pollinators for their crops. When one crop has finished flowering, the bees are moved to another area. In the same way, goat herders take their herds where the weeds are. The herders put up temporary fencing when needed. Some of these entrepreneurs live like nomads, staying with their goats while they're on the road.
The cost of leasing ground-clearing herds is fairly high, so many clients are public facilities, like parks, landfills, wetlands, or roads. Goats can clear areas that are virtually inaccessible to heavy equipment, and they work cheaper than day laborers. They are useful in fire prevention, too; they eat the underbrush that grows in immature forests, thereby eliminating a fire hazard.
A private landowner may not have the budget for this. The answer might be to acquire a herd and use them to clear problem areas. Once the job is done, the animals can be sold to others with the same sort of problem. Anyone getting livestock should know about basic care and also be aware of plants that can harm grazing animals.
People may not realize that some of their favorite plants can be invasive exotics. Queen Anne's Lace and daisies look pretty, as does Dames Rocket. Honeysuckle perfumes the summer air, and multiflora rose makes attractive mounds of sweet-scented flowers. It's when these plants get out of control, like those pretty purple thistles, that problems arise. The imports can crowd out native species, interfere with crops, and encroach on cleared land.
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.
Controlling brush plants like Autumn or Russian olive, touch-me-not ones like poison ivy, or seemingly indestructible things like honeysuckle and kudzu without the use of herbicides is environmentally desirable. Often a herd owner will have a sideline meat production business to help off-set the expense of buying and keeping the animals. Especially in warmer areas with ample rainfall, where a goat can forage year-round, this can work.
If you need to get rid of vines, brush, or weeds, remember that a goat prefers these to grass. You may need to confine the herd to the problem area, since a goat likes variety and will stray if allowed. They are very, very good at controlling even the most vigorous plants that are in your way.
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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.
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