bizzaro
LOVE GOT JUST THE WAY IT IS #ALWNV
MoutsGoat's peoples are saving America by doing what he does best. Eating.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30583512
The goats fighting America's plant invasion
By Joanna JollyBBC News, Washington
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.
Poison ivy, multiflora rose and bittersweet - the goats eat them all with gusto, so Knox now markets their pest-munching services one week at a time from May to November
Over the past seven years, they have become a huge success story, consuming tons of invasive species.
"I joke that I drive the bus, but they're the real rock stars," says Knox, who also works as a sustainability consultant.
Typically, chemicals and/or machinery are used to clear away fast-growing invasive plants, but both methods have their drawbacks. Chemicals can contaminate soil and are not effective in stopping new seeds from sprouting. Pulling plants out by machine can disturb the soil and cause erosion.
Goats, says Knox, are a simple, biological solution to the problem.
"This is old technology. I'd love to say I invented it, but it's been around since time began," he says. "We just kind of rediscovered it."
One of the reasons goats are so effective is that plant seeds rarely survive the grinding motion of their mouths and their multi-chambered stomachs - this is not always the case with other techniques which leave seeds in the soil to spring back.
"When they move on to a new site, you can see the excitement in the way they eat," he says.
...
"In the end we used herds of mostly sheep with some goats mixed in as we found the goats were harder to control," he says of his company Ewe-niversally Green. "We found that the goats led all the mutinies."
Brian Knox, in Maryland, agrees that some goats can be troublesome and even admits to donating his grumpiest animal to a local butchery class.
But overall, he says he has a happy relationship with the animals.
"They certainly earn their keep," he says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30583512
The goats fighting America's plant invasion
By Joanna JollyBBC News, Washington
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.
Poison ivy, multiflora rose and bittersweet - the goats eat them all with gusto, so Knox now markets their pest-munching services one week at a time from May to November
Over the past seven years, they have become a huge success story, consuming tons of invasive species.
"I joke that I drive the bus, but they're the real rock stars," says Knox, who also works as a sustainability consultant.
Typically, chemicals and/or machinery are used to clear away fast-growing invasive plants, but both methods have their drawbacks. Chemicals can contaminate soil and are not effective in stopping new seeds from sprouting. Pulling plants out by machine can disturb the soil and cause erosion.
Goats, says Knox, are a simple, biological solution to the problem.
"This is old technology. I'd love to say I invented it, but it's been around since time began," he says. "We just kind of rediscovered it."
One of the reasons goats are so effective is that plant seeds rarely survive the grinding motion of their mouths and their multi-chambered stomachs - this is not always the case with other techniques which leave seeds in the soil to spring back.
"When they move on to a new site, you can see the excitement in the way they eat," he says.
...
"In the end we used herds of mostly sheep with some goats mixed in as we found the goats were harder to control," he says of his company Ewe-niversally Green. "We found that the goats led all the mutinies."
Brian Knox, in Maryland, agrees that some goats can be troublesome and even admits to donating his grumpiest animal to a local butchery class.
But overall, he says he has a happy relationship with the animals.
"They certainly earn their keep," he says.
