We
have not quite figured out how to shepherd herds of animals without
fences or a human on standby, but that is one problem that needs to
be addressed soon. Herds of goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, and even
elephants need to be tracked and bounded loosely to optimize their
effective utilization.
Here
we have goats at work again and the need is massive. Even better, it
provides a steady supply of free fodder for the enterprising farmer.
It just needs to operate hands off from a monitoring computer to be
efficient. It is now clear that land managers everywhere have
already embraced the concept and welcome it.
We just need the
lead billy goat and guard dog to march down the road to the next
patch by themselves.
g
September 26, 2013
Non-native
vegetation can be a pernicious and formidable foe, invading
unsuspecting landscapes and choking out plant life that
actually belongs there. Try as we might to battle back those most
unwanted of weeds, even our most advanced landscaping tools are often
ineffective in staving off the fast-growing onslaught.
Thankfully,
there's backup.
Schlitz
Audubon Nature Center, a wildlife sanctuary outside of Milwaukee,
is suppose to be a haven for local biodiversity -- but two
particularly nasty invasive plant species, Buckthorn and Honeysuckle,
had other plans. Since the weeds first found their way into the area,
they've now come to occupy much of the sanctuary's 180-acres,
towering over native species and deterring visits from birds and
other animals.
Since
mowers and pesticides seemed like less than an eco-minded solution to
the problem, nature center officials turned one of nature's most
hardened plant eradicators -- enlisting an army of 90 hungry goats to
rove the grounds, making a meal of the problem plants.
The
goats, who have no problem eating through acres and acres of every
day, were hired on from Vegetation
Management Solutions, a company specializing in using goats to
tackle invasive plants. In fact, the nature center believes that the
hardy munchers will get the job done in less than two weeks without
even realizing they're working.
Using
goats as emission-free
mowers is catching on; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service regularly
employ goats to clear vegetation, making short work of the job and
leaving fertilizer for native plants in their wake. And that's
nothing to bleat about.
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