When we first arrived in Rhode Island, we came with our horses. Now... well now we still have our horses. And geese. And rabbits (which did some amazing patriotic duty this past weekend by the way--if you missed us at the Calling all Vets event, be sure to catch up and hey, you can always come out to the ranch too!... but doah! I'm digressing again). And... how can I forget our goats? I mean man they're one of our star attractions (along with the horses, geese and rabbits of course!)
But how are they our star attractions? Well by golly, I'm glad you asked. You see, goats have a bottomless pit... ugh, I mean they have a stomach (actually, two, but let's net delver into the weeds... haha that's for the goats to do!). Anyway, they have this bottomless pit, I mean stomach, and it seems no matter how much we feed them, they don't stop eating. I mean they're eating us out of house and home. Actually, it's probably a good thing they shy away from wood, otherwise we wouldn't have much of a house left.
So... what to do about our starving goats? I mean, not starving, not really, not actually, although they'll look at you with their big, sad eyes, begging and pleading with you. IF they think they're about to get some food, but you're still undecided, they'll usually let out a little, pitiful, mournful bleet. Well, it might work for a while, and then it wears off. It's worn off for us! So now the goats look at us like we're forcing them to starve to death. Which we aren't of course. They get more food than they know what to do with (they're as much involved in the hay decoration schemes as the horses are!).
Well, we finally hit on an idea! Why not use the bottomless pits the goats have and help our neighbors at the same time.
TA DA! Introducing Goat... mowing? Na, how about Goat Weedeating? Hmm, not quite the right feel. Oh! I know! Goat Scaping! There, that's a good name.
Goat Scaping is the practice of taking our goats to our neighbors, and setting them loose on the weeds. We've been clearing out one neighbor's property, uncovering an old, stone wall which had become overgrown in inches of vegetation. Hundreds of inches! And now? Poof, the weeds are gone, and the goats... well they're still looking at us like they're starving, but not quite as often. It's a win-win! I don't have to spend as much to feed them, and our neighbors' properties become less overgrown!
Man, you should see the weed-eating potential a herd of goats has! Our herd isn't quite 10, so it's a small herd, but they are impressive! They climb over rocks and downed trees. Heck, they'll even climb over each other!
One day, we were working on clearing brush around a gentleman's creek. That brush was fifteen feet tall and the goats had eaten what they could from the lower parts of it. Now all we had left was the leaves way up high. Our goats are great, but hey, let's face it, they're not Super Goats. We were afraid we were stopped.
But never fear! Leia and Charlotte, two of our most rambunctious goats, found they could walk on top of the bush! Then, Gale asked if she could climb the bush, and after observing the limbs to be 2 1/2 inches fat, I felt it might be ok. That's all it took, and she led the charge as the goats followed her up the brush pile bush hill. Pretty soon we had the goats laying on top of the bush, each chewing their cud.
We have found goats truly eat everything. We are careful to inspect the area before we graze. We look for Rhododendron, Azaleas, and other things we know the goats might eat, which we don't want them to. These and other plants pose a threat due to their toxicity. Fortunately the goats prefer some things over these toxic plants, which makes it easier to avoid them.
Let me take a quick segway and answer a very common question. As we go around our lil' Rhody community, our neighbors are quick to ask about poison ivy. Poison ivy acqiures it's fearful reputation from a compound known to scientists as urisiol oil. This is the same compound found in poison sumac and poison oak. Curiously, the goats don't have problems with urisiol oil. Well, not the problems we have, it seems to be like candy to them! Hahaha! They like poison ivy better than most everything else!
Well, what else do goats eat? Everything! Indigenous plants- yup! That'd be poison ivy, as well as sumac, and maple, and even grass! And you know those berry brambles where you yell "ouch, oh my poor, perforated arms!" AND the invasive stuff!!! Yes, invasive weeds!
Most of the invasive plants we have around are a result of humans introducing some exotic plant for indoor use from some other places on earth. Heck, they're decorative and pretty and the whole nine yards! Most of us don't have the greenest of thumbs when it comes to taking care of our house plants. They get sick and appear to die, at which time those plants get kicked out! Yup, to the trash. Well if it's a dead plant, you could just add the soil to the hill outside your yard, right? The plant parts should just decompose, right?
But is the root dead? Is the entire plant dead? Maybe it's not dead, but sick. Well, it should still decompose, right? Unfortunately this isn't the way these plants react to being tossed out the back door of the house. Nope, not at all. Rather, for some reason, they seem to love it. And thus we face the challenge caused by these invasive plants: they grow so well they choke out the native plants, overwhelming the land owners who try to maintain their lands.
Thus we have Chinese Wisteria, Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Knotweed, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, Autumn Olive, Buckthorn, Japanese Honeysuckle, Porcelain Berry, and many more. And not just scattered here and there, but abundantly all over the place! Wow!
This may seem like an overwhelming number of varieties of plants, but I can assure you the goats think it's a delightfully mixed salad bar! And, adding spice to life, everyone's property has just a little different combination of the noxious weeds... err, I mean delectable appetizers!
Some of these plants aren't present on our property, but we find them in other locations. So, when you can't see past the Porcelain Berry bush choking out the maple, call in our goats! Yum they say!
We look forward to the growth of our goat herd. As our goat herd grows, and as our other business ventures continue to be blessed by God, we hope to hire veterans to take the goats grazing. We're still a ways from achieving this, but it's a dream to look forward to. I love envisioning veterans, taking the goats to graze, and then bringing them home for a siesta, and taking their own siesta too. Well, that's the way our days work, usually.
A day of goat grazing for us starts after we have done our morning farm chores. We load the goats into the truck, and it's a snuggly fit. Our nine goats fit nicely in the bed of our pickup truck, with a camper-shell. In order to get on the road, we have to put leashes on the goats to get them to the truck; someone climbs into the truck bed with a bucket of grain rattling it as the goats are running to the truck; the goats use a prepositioned cinder block as a step and jump up into the truck bed; the bucket of grain is poured into a feed bucket and the grain person removes all leashes, jumps out of the truck, closes the tailgate and we drive away.
Goat kids love to come for grazing also, but they ride in the cab because the bed can get rowdy during travel. Sometimes other drivers notice we have the goats and the smiles on their faces are huge! Goats are so loveable! When the goat herd grows, we will utilize a stock trailer for transport purposes.
Once we get to our destination, we make sure all the goats have thier leashes on before getting out of the truck. We open the tail gate and scatter for our lives as the goats enthusiastically jump out of the truck and run for the brush! It's like a prison break!
Once they reach the brush, it's "AAALLLL SSTO-O-OP and GRAZE!!!!"
We use ground screws to tether the goats and prevent them from wandering away. If we stand and hold them, they wouldn't graze as much, because we humans might have a yummier snack. That happens when a land owner offers donuts or morning pastries upon our arrival. Our land owners are so awesome! Well tethered goats work happily. We tether them close to each other and remain nearby. It doesn't take long for them to quickly consume a large quantity of weeds, and then we move them to a different place, previously out of their range. Their appetites suddenly renew with the new selections.
Sometimes, the goats will graze and clean out the underbrush but need the bush cut down or pulled down so they can reach it. We will cut the brush down, easily because the goats have cleared around the stems and we can see what needs cutting. It is impressive to watch some of these bushes fall and the goats attention is renewed.
They do work best when they are kept tightly together, much like we do at a family feast. Just like a feast for us, the food on a plate nearby looks more attractive, or perhaps I am concerned someone will try snagging one of my own choice morsels. The goats race for the choicest leaves and steams, but in the end, it's all in good fun! The goats love a feast every day!
After only a few well monitored grazing periods, our goats can have a large area of overgrown weeds removed, revealing what lies beyond as well as extra land to utilize.
After the goats have grazed an area for about 3 hours, they will lie down and begin to chew the cud. This is what we want, as it will thoroughly destroy all the seeds they may have eaten during the grazing period. Seeing as there are other things I can spend my time doing, we take the goats home for a siesta. If we don't have other appointments, we like to take the goats back to the property for more grazing. The goats eat differently in the afternoon than in the morning, and so sometimes we will choose to visit a location only in the morning or only in the evening.
We are excited as we can help more people. We envision allowing people to take the goats for meditative grazing hikes around our property. I know it would be a great way to calm down, and our goats always love the opportunity to walk around and graze. As the herd of goats grows, we will be able to let more people enjoy this opportunity.
We also envision hiring veterans to take the goat herd out for grazing. Maybe a special needs or disabled person could be involved too. It could be made to work for our community. They could arrive at their grazing location, tie out the goats, observe them and move them along as necessary. We don't like leaving them in unfamiliar areas, with concern about coyotes. During our process of learning the area, we have been told we should learn to co-habitate with coyotes. As a rancher this is not comfortable, but the community seems to frown on my ideas to remove coyotes, born of my concern for the safety of our herd.
When the goats fill up after about 3 hours and lay down to chew the cud, the herd can be brought home for a siesta, to be enjoyed by all, including the employees! Now farm hours are funny, and we would work with our help to their benefit. We just think it'd be great to employ veterans, special needs and disabled people, don't you?
Well, having enough goats to make this all possible, that'd be fifty or more goats. When we have so many goats, I think our fences will be better set up also, can you imagine fences to keep the goats and horses safe. Maybe white paddock fencing with cattle fencing to keep the goats herd in. And the area inside the fence, lush green grass, with occasional trees, brush, and some herbaceous "weeds". Picturesque? I think so.
That's a good goal. And I'd love if you'd help us get there. Would you consider sponsoring a goat or a horse or a bunny? Or maybe you want to give a larger, less frequent donation? If you are a business, we can list your business on our about page.
Thank you for reading and your time! Blessings to you and yours!
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