Uncategorized

The Goatly News

73 Comments

Time for an update on the many ways GOATS are improving our world.

Goats are stepping forward to help golf courses manage weeds, especially leafy spurge.
A golf course just north of Bismarck, North Dakota has added goats to the maintenance crew, taking them to problem areas and allowing them to graze inside a portable corral. I’m guessing the corral is to keep the goats on task, and off the greens. But how do they protect these workers from the occasional errant shot? And how many strokes do you add if you shank your approach shot into the goat pen?

Hawktree Golf Club has some of the stark, windswept look of Scotland’s Old Course at St. Andrews where the British Open was played this weekend. St. Andrews has an impressive history and carries the majesty and the weight of a great tradition, but the Scottish course doesn’t have goats!

And in Maryland, goats are helping the highway department preserve an important environment for endangered turtles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_GloVpG9bI

In each case, normal grazing turns out to be a powerful force. Lawnmowers be damned! Expressed as an equation, it would be Goats plus Green Stuff plus Grazing minus Gasoline equals Good. Or as one You Tube commenter said, “When things go wrong, bring in the goats.”

Consider any difficult problem, then add goats. What do you get?

73 thoughts on “The Goatly News”

  1. i have one side of my house i am just about done sanding. it is ready for primer and then paint. i’m thinking 4 or 5 goats ought to do it. but how do you get them up to the top of the 4o foot ladders?

    Like

    Reply

      1. Ha!
        Then bring out the compressor and hoses, the cans, the opener, some stir sticks and spray nozzles, and tell the goats the house must NOT get painted. But if somehow it happens anyway, it should wind up being the paint color, not the primer.

        Like

        Reply

  2. There is an area of my back yard where vegetation has gotten out of control. I’ve considered calling in an Agent Orange strike. But goats–goats would be more ecological, wouldn’t they?

    They say the war in Afghanistan isn’t going well. Maybe if we just start sending goats instead of soldiers . . . that might be better. And if the first goats don’t turn things around, just keep sending more and more goats. Makes sense to me, or it makes more sense than what we’re doing.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Isn’t Afghanistan a goat-rich environment already? It may be that the solution isn’t raw numbers of goats, but rather, placement.

      Like

      Reply

  3. good morning, All! Dale, thanks for giving us some ways that goats are handy. just think of any problem – hungry? goats. need more exercise? goats. money to burn? goats. (well, probably horses, more likely) feeling down/need a laugh? goats. mother-in-law problems? goats.
    re the hungry bit: we made our first “Goat Ladies’ Gouda” last saturday at

    out of 13 gallons of the GLs’ Girls’ combined milk. it will age for two months and then we’ll taste in September. such fun.

    Like

    Reply

    2. I have it on good authority (based on a newspaper article) that goats also make good therapists….or, good therapy. This should be added to your list, Barb.

      Like

      Reply

  4. Rise and Shine Babooners:

    Looks like a beautiful day! I have a day off today, so I’m pleased to see a moderate day for weeding the garden. Not to mention this might be a problem goats could help with, if only the goats could discriminate between weeds and keeper plants.
    Meanwhile, goats and human social problems. Many, many years ago I worked at the Human Services office in a Southern MN County that housed a large Hispanic population. One day the staff was meeting in the conference room which had large window with a view of the parking lot. A car drove up and the driver parked in the lot in front of the window. The family, including several adults and several children, got out of the car and entered the building.
    Then the pet dog; NO, the family’s GOAT climbed from the back seat to the front seat. Those of us in the staff meeting tuned out of the supervisor’s agenda, becoming engrossed in goat watching. The goat casually picked up the unfolded road map someone had been using to get to the office, and began munching, watching us watch her through the window. We watched in FASCINATION as the map began disappearing into the goat. It was not yet totally gone when the meeting ended.
    While I’m not sure if the goat solved any social problem, this goat undoubtably solved the problem of the boring, pointless organizational meeting and provided me with an enjoyable memory!

    Like

    Reply

    1. You paint a vivid picture, Jacque. Thanks for this story! Did the supervisor ever notice or acknowledge that she/he had lost the attention of the audience to a goat eating a map? That’s a valuable lesson and an important question for anyone to ask while they’re putting together their Powerpoint presentation – is this as interesting as a goat’s breakfast?

      Like

      Reply

  5. from goatworld

    Origins of the Goat
    Goats were one of the first animals to be tamed by humans and were being herded 9,000 years ago. They are a member of the cattle family and are believed to be descended from the wild goat, bezoar.

    Breeds of Goats
    There are over 210 breeds of goats with an estimated 450 million goats in the world (2001). Of the 450 million goats in the world, it is estimated that approximately 6 to 8 % of them are in North America (2001). The majority of the world goat population can be found in the Mideast and Asia.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I think in many places goats are part of a food production system that is doing a better job of providing the world with food than the “so called” highly productive systems the big agri-business companies promote and claim must be supported to keep the world from starvation. The ETC foundation has a report indicating that large scale food production systems supply much less than half of the world’s food supply and small food producing and gathering systems, such as those that are likely to include goats, produce the majority of the world’s food supply.

      Like

      Reply

  6. Well, I don’t know how goats could help with the shortage of affordable housing in western North Dakota, a result of the oil boom, or how they might help alleviate my cats’ nighttime boredom (another piece of pottery hit the floor again last night).

    Like

    Reply

  7. Perhaps, though, goats could assist my dog with her fear of thunder. Last night she tried to jump in the bathtub with me during a thunder storm. Maybe the goats could distract her so she didn’t notice the thunder?

    Like

    Reply

  9. I had friends–Don and Betty–who raised goats in extreme southern Iowa. Betty put out a little publication called “Goat News” that she typed and then reproduced using the local library’s duplicating machine. Don and Betty were impoverished, so they lived on the deer they shot all year long, and I mention this because you should know that they were really informed about deer. They shot another deer every two weeks or so. Technically, they were poachers, but I preferred to think of them as hunter-gatherers. Betty’s most impressive goat was a big billy with pronounced spots. One day he jumped (climbed?) the fence and went feral, and they never saw him again. But Don and Betty swore that they were shooting deer with spotted hides for the next several years.

    Like

    Reply

    1. “extreme southern Iowa” can only be reached by skateboarding down a tortuous half pipe, definitely goat country.

      Like

      Reply

  10. Good Morning Goat Fans,

    Our President has been made the goat for many of our problems by some people. Obama should straighten out these people by showing them real goats. He could have some goats on the White House lawn with a sign that tells people that they are real goats and that those people who seem to want to blame everything on him should address their complaints to them and not try to make him into a goat. I’m sure the goats would have good answers for the unfair complaints that seem to be directed toward the President by certain sectors of our society

    Like

    Reply

    1. i really like this idea jiom
      lets get word to michelle and maybe she can put them next to the tomato plants in the front yard.

      Like

      Reply

  11. Tim, i never thought of measuring Majority’s scrotal circumference as a measure of his fertility potential. i think that’s a job i’ll delegate……

    Renee, get your neighbor a goat. then you’ll REALLY hear noises in the night. i tried sleeping in the barn one cold, March night before Alba was born. it wasn’t the cold that drove me back into the house. it was all of that chewing, rubbing, banging, burping, etc. ha, ha!
    Jacque – i find that i can’t stop watching my goats – ever. way better than any meeting (well, what wouldn’t be?). but they watch me also. when we’re out in the pasture (the newly, expensively fenced pasture that we put up for them that they will only visit if i coax them out) Dream looks up about every two minutes to check on me. then about every 5 minutes she walks over to where i’m sitting and needs a scritch.
    Another useful and wonderful thing about goats – GOAT CHEESE!! we (Cynthia in Mahtowa, and about five other GLs) made our first Goat Ladies’ Gouda last saturday at Green Pastures Dairy (a very nice cow-gouda and other cheeses operation). we pooled 13 gallons of the GLs’ Girls’ milk and we’ll taste the results in about two months, after aging.
    ok, i’ll stop now 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    2. Barb — My nephew, the organic farmer, did a stint with goats and may again when he has his own patch someday. His goats were very fun to watch and interact with. The goat feta he made was marvelously smooth, so I can imagine the Gouda. His goat milk soap is also very nice and is one of the few soaps I can use. I may ask to bring him up to see your operation.

      Like

      Reply

  12. Dale, you mention leafy spurge, a noxious weed that goats have been used to combat. You can see it all over the Badlands and it makes cattle pretty ill if they eat it. The roots are incredibly tough and long. I don’t know why goats like it. In addition to goats, they have also used tiny insects called Flea Beetles to eat the spurge. I don’t know how they instruct the beetles to eat only the spurge and not any of the really tasty grasses. Are beetles more docile than goats? It takes thousands of beetles to treat a patch of spurge. Do people raise Flea Beetles?

    Like

    Reply

    1. this from (now i forget – USDA or NDSU or UND…) “Leafy spurge contains a toxic substance that, when consumed by livestock, is an irritant, emetic and purgative. It causes scours and weakness in cattle and may result in death. The toxin has produced inflammation and loss of hair on the feet of horses from freshly mowed stubble during haying, and has caused mortality in sheep that grazed leafy spurge exclusively. However, sheep and goats safely can graze leafy spurge as a portion of their diet, and grazing can be used as a form of cultural control. Ruminants will eat dried plants in hay, but many livestock, particularly cattle, avoid eating live plants.”
      from what i read, the chemical control takes LOTS of ugly herbicides and very regular application. so sheep, and more so goats, are eating that plant that is somewhat toxic to them but saving pounds of chemicals per goat. see? they are wonderful animals. the problem with sheep control is that they eat the grass also, leaving less for the cattle once the spurge is under control. and they’re not as cute. says so in the research.

      Like

      Reply

  13. Mornin’–

    There was a local TV news story just a few months ago about a junk yard –oops; I mean ‘Automotive Salvage and Recycling Facility’– that was having a severe noxious weed problem and was in trouble with local authorities regarding said weeds. The owners proposed solution was to bring in several goats to eat all the weeds.
    I was trying to imagine the goats actually crawling up in to the engine compartment to eat that stinging nettle plant. Barb, would they actually do that?
    I don’t think they would but I’m not a goat expert.
    Thanks for the goat facts tim!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Ben, i think they’d crawl anywhere to get a tasty tidbit. remember the photo Dale posted of the goats standing in a tree? the woman who bought Alba’s triplets says they are crawling thru the bars of the beautiful manger that she built for them, into the manger and then out the top. then they jump to the haystack and free-range nibble. i can’t see Dream or Alba doing that. but soon again we’ll have some kids in the barn. we’re buying two doelings from a nearby farm in Nickerson. very excited. beautiful little Girls.

      Like

      Reply

  15. My previous basset hound would occasionally go with me to visit a friend who had goats, a llama, and a big herding dog of some flavor (about 2-3 times her size). In a way that only a stubborn, forceful basset could, she insisted in trying to herd the goats. The llama she gave up on quickly as it made weird ack-ack-ack-hissss noises at her, but the goats…those were at least her size, and she was up for the challenge. Ultimately she didn’t have much luck with the goats (though she had fun trying), but she was able to herd the big (un-neutered male) herding dog without much effort. She was a determined hound and about as stubborn as the goats.

    On a related topic, I have seen that the garden store where I pick up my CSA veggies has fabulous goat statues (a lovely, expressive distressed metal black and white). While I’m not sure I can justify a goat in the city, I might be able to swing one of these…if only I can justify the cost.

    Like

    Reply

  16. OT–A Weekend Vignette: A 50-year old man sits on a modern scooter on the side of 169 heading south into Mankato. In his right arm he holds a 10 foot long 1″ by 8″ board, and he wears a silly grin on his face. Parked behind him is a highway patrol car, the patrolman leaning into his open window talking on the radio.

    Like

    Reply

  17. I took a few days off from TB and all things internet-related (no particular reason) and I come back to GOATS! Woohoo! What is it about their appeal? I am completely smitten after the wonderful visit to Barb and Steve’s. Friends think I’ve gone around the bend after seeing the triplets take a turn as my Facebook profile pic.

    I lost a big ash branch on Saturday night, which was added to my pile of other branches in my little compost heap. I’d like to borrow some goats to help clear that out.

    I love what Barb says about watching them and their watching her. Something similar to the observance of cats – I was reminded of that when I woke up this a.m. and two cats were quietly staring at me.

    I’ll just think about goats today while enjoying the posted fun facts. Barb, let us know how the new arrivals are!

    Like

    Reply

    1. I don’t think you have gone too far at all. I have the triplets in their sweaters (for knitting inspiration) for my laptop.

      Decided to put on the bubbles for the screensaver, so every so often, we get treated to the goats looking at us through the bubbles!

      Like

      Reply

  18. Scanning all the comments I didn’t see any reference to one of my favorite goat stories…that during the 1930s the government used goats to clear the land of marijuana plants. Unfortunately…or, fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it…the goats ate the seeds, wrapped them in “fertilizer” and spread it behind them.

    On another totally different note: I just got a call from an MPR listener wanting to know who on a Prairie Home show some time ago (“can’t remember when”) sang “The House on the Hill” — a female jazz singer was all she could remember. APHC website and Google have come up short, so I’m thinking someone on this blog will remember and/or know…Dale? Mike? Guy in the Hat? Anyone? Thanks.

    Like

    Reply

      1. Thanks for looking, Clyde. Since I haven’t a clue “which” House on the Hill” (she didn’t sing it to me) is might be…much less which “female jazz singer” or which show or when…it’s a “crap shoot” unless someone heard it and remembered it.

        I thought of Connie Evingson, Prudence Johnson, Maureen McGovern…other possibilities?

        Like

        Reply

  20. and Cynthia in Mahtowa – your favorite goat website – Childhood Goat Trauma!
    a reminder:
    http://www.goat-trauma.org/

    just in from my own form of goat trauma – being out in the pasture with Niblet and T. anyone remember the skit on SNL where these two or three greasy guys go to disco bars and bounce some young, innocent woman between them like a volley ball? never liked that skit. don’t like it in real life either. Niblet and T are back in their loafing area, without me to bounce around. i’m tending my bruises.

    Like

    Reply

  21. OT I mentioned carousels the other day and many of you piped up to say you had fond memories of the Cafesjian Carousel that now lives at Como Park. I got back and took a few photos of it Friday. You can see them by clicking on the underline with my name, which takes you to a photo site where I have just added a few carousel images in a gallery.

    If you would like to see the same images and read a tutorial on carousels, click here : http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=35818331

    Hmm, I’m not sure that will be clickable. You can copy and then paste that line in the address box of your browser. I’ll be happy to talk carousels in personal email. OK, now it is back to goats!!!

    Like

    Reply

      1. Barb — Yes. It went into the State Fair system in 1914 and served there for several decades. I’m not sure when it was taken out. It was busted up and sent off to be auctioned off in pieces in 1988. But as we know, it was rescued, reunited and restored.

        Like

        Reply

    2. Steve, beautiful pictures.
      How did you know it was called PTC 33? It makes the carousel sound like it might be part of a space shot or some military drama.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Steve,
        Are there any all goat carousels? I think they would be ideal for small children-less intimidating and not requiring so much parental strength to get seated.

        Like

        Reply

  22. Dale — The Philadelphia Toboggan Company still exists and maintains good records on all of the machines it has built. Carousel people are more likely to use the “PTC 33” name because it is larger than the sort of name that comes from a machine’s current owners. PTC 76 is alive and operating at the Valleyfair Amusement Park. I haven’t seen it.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Beth-Ann Good question. No, no all-goat carousels. Carousels come two ways. They are either all-horse carousels, or they are “menagerie” carousels. Those are the ones that have goats, chickens, lizards, etc instead of just horses.

      Like

      Reply

  23. one last thing today: my, i’ve certainly been chatty. it’s our 36th anny today (38th REAL) and we’re having venison/green bean stir fry w/rice. gave each other a new toilet for the first floor bathroom. (25th – “silver”; 50th -“golden”; 36th – “toilet”, right???)

    Like

    Reply

  24. For the TB State Fair event can we pleeeze have a goat activity? What opportunities would any of our goat insiders have to arrange for us to meet goats, learn about goat judging, or take a goat on a carousel?

    Like

    Reply

    1. A goat-cheese tasting
      Identify a scape GOAT
      Grow GOATee’s (OK, just the guys)
      Instead of Where’s Eric, Where’s Billy (goat)
      Sing “Bill Grogan’s Goat”
      Wash with my Goat Milk Soap
      Tell stories of our favorite Nanny
      The possibilities are endless! I’ll bet Barb can inspire us, too

      Like

      Reply

  25. For those of you reading 3 Bags Full, here is an fitting quote from steve in his book about his father:
    “People in small towns experience negative events on two levels: there is the event itself, and then there is anxiety about how people will perceive it (which can be worse than the shame of the event itself).” Steve Grooms

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Barbara in Robbinsdale Cancel reply