[APWG] Goat grazing at a significant scale?

[Michael Francis]

Greetings all and thanks for the interesting commentary on goats.  From what I have read through your responses, it seems, as I would have guessed, that there are all of the cautions that one would expect, but perhaps not the most thorough understanding of the benefits to be derived from goat grazing and how to manage it to deal with the potential down sides.

First, let me say this...'free range' goats is in no way a responsible use of grazing for presciptive results.  Herded goats or penned goats is the only feasible way to ensure the work is done properly, other wise the goats can be too selective in what they consume and could choose to ignore the target species.

Second, I would like to describe my own specific results and some of the literature search results I have found:

We have applied approximately 500 head of goats in a herded situation specifically to target leafy spurge as well as Russian and spotted knapweeds in a riparian restoration/mitigation project in SW Colorado.  The project area is about 1,100 acres along the La Plata River.

The treatment is showing amazing promise, so much so that I have formed a personal business to facilitate grazing on a much larger scale.  We have seen spurge removed from the detectable herbaceous canopy layer in prescription areas, 100% of forming knapweed seedheads removed and leaves stripped to nothing, leaving only rosettes that are perfect for fall herbicide applications.

Our data crunching is still not complete but the potential benefits for large-scale application is obvious.  The research out there supports what I have found.

When I suggest a large-scale effort, I am talking about getting to the point of around 100 herds operating independently across the west, each under specific herding so that overgrazing is prevented.  And the real kicker is that this can be a no-cost service and treat many hundreds of thousands of acres each year.  Perhaps millions of acres.

Now, to talk about is it inherently wrong to use grazing where over grazing was the problem that started it all.  I'm sure all of you understand that our native ecosystems developed under grazing pressure.  Our invasive species often come from places where their native grazers help to balance their pplace in the landscape.  It does make common sense that putting grazers that are capable of controlling our target weeds in place to help us restore ecosystem 'balance'.

I in no way advocate goats as a silver bullet to eradicate weeds, but as part of a landscape-wide toll in an integrated approach, with herbicides, cultural changes, and other tools, it could make an enormouos difference.  Imagine if you will the economic engine behind the beef industry supporting weed control.  The goat market has a very similar economic potential and is a vastly more sustainable enterprise due to thier managebility and the polasticity in their diet.

The mere fact that goat grazing, done at scale, can pay for itself should catch yourt interest.  The way to do it will be the topic of much discussion I am certain, but with carefully controlled HERDED and not free-range applications, we could make enormous inroads, particularly in knapweed and spurge control.  Imagine the reduction of knapweed and spurge seed production reduced to effectively 0 across many thousands of infested acres and repeating the process for 5 years.  

Food for thought.  If you would like to talk more about it, I'm all ears.

Thanks, 

Michael Francis
Program Manager
"Get Your Goat!" (TM) Program.