Long Island Business NewsOfficials in Southampton on Long Island believe they’ve found a way to control invasive plants that doesn’t involve pesticides.
Newsday reports that the town board has voted to rent goats to eat the plants.
The Nubian dairy goats will be rented from farmers in upstate Rhinebeck.
Their job will be to rid fields of autumn olive, a non-native plant that chokes out native species.
One farmer, Larry Cihanek, said the goats love certain plants that people hate. He said poison ivy is their favorite.
The Southampton Town Board authorized $3,500 for fencing to corral the goats and for goat rental.
Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said that if the goats do their job they might get another one: eating the grass that grows around headstones in the town’s cemeteries.
Read more: http://libn.com/2014/03/21/southampton-to-rent-goats-to-eat-pesky-weeds/#ixzz2wcXGvXV1
Though I see some learning curves here believe this is a great idea in general,a bit of a win/win,nice to see in modern day society folks willing to go old school.
Nice. Organic weedeaters.
You wouldn’t think poison ivy would be tasty to anything, though.
They just discovered a practice that has been efficiently used for the same purpose for centuries.
Good to see though.
I’ll let you borrow mine….please?