Goats are now being used as the environmentally friendly solution to a poison ivy infestation. The Congressional Cemetery had a problem with poison ivy and other vines growing and choking bigger trees. It also took the sunlight from these trees and prevented the process of photosynthesis; both of these problems kill the bigger trees and could cause them to fall and crush tombstones. So instead of using environmentally unfriendly herbicides, or have to mow around tombstones they bought a herd of about fifty goats for about a week. Along with preventing herbicides from potentially harming surrounding plants by using goats instead of mowers oil and gasoline is not used and no harmful emissions are produced. A drawback of using goats however is they are not as exact with their eating; and as their goat owner explained they get bored with one taste; so it is important that they are given a variety of plants that they need to eradicate. I think this is a great environmentally friendly solution that should be used by more cemeteries as a solution to unwanted overgrowth.
Alyssa this is a great article! To think that goats fix a problem and make it more eco-friendly is crazy! I think it was necessary to save the trees using any possible solution. Even if it ended with using gasoline and other oils I think it would have been worth it, but by using goats the situation became eco-friendly. The goats have a minor flaw by only eating poison ivy when they want to and then eating other plants to change their diet every so often. The goats have a minor flaw, but by making the poison ivy go away without using oils is a huge benefit!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, this article restores a little bit of my faith in Washington. ;) The idea of using goats to tame overgrowth of plants for various reasons is not a new one, but it's great to see eco friendly solutions spreading across the country. The goats not only helped the trees around the cemetery, but wildlife everywhere. If more organizations would use goats to clean up, the air and also the ground would be saved from oil and herbicides. Great article!
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty amazing how people can find solutions to so many different problems. The fact that they are using goats to eat the infestation of poison ivy rather than using harsh chemicals and pesticides is great. To be honest I didn't know that goats could even eat poison ivy. I wonder how it doesn't affect their health?
ReplyDeleteWow, this is funny! Is this going to become a permanent solution or was this a one-time deal? This sounds a lot like how some people use cows to weed their fields and such. I guess this just goes to show how sometimes man-made solutions are not always the best! I do have a concern though- what did they do with all the goat feces? I’m sure there was plenty left over. I know that poop will eventually degrade, but first it will foul up the cemetery for quite some time. I feel bad for the poor fellow who most likely had to clean up after the animals.
ReplyDeleteAnnie I think you have brought up another benefit of using goats! While the person who owns the herd of goats is probably in charge of picking up the feces; he can probably collect it sell it as fertilizer. Even if the waste of the goat does not make a good fertilizer it still could be put in a landfill and degrade relatively quickly. Either way this by-product is much more environmentally friendly then that of a lawn mower who utilizes non-renewable fuels and emits harmful gasses into the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! It’s honestly relatively smart for whoever owned the goats as he is making money, instead of having to feed them on his own rented/owned/taxed land. Also, as Alyssa said, he could even have a fertilizing business out of it! It is also much more…peaceful for any visitors to the cemetery. Although some may see it as an insult to have the goats wandering through this place of remembrance, I believe it is much more dignified than driving a lawn mower over the graves. That might be just me though. :b Like Hannah said this is not exactly a new idea, several years ago an airport switched to goats to keep the sparks from the mowers from igniting all the fuel that is an extremely prevalent material on runways, but it also has a lot of things that makes this a good idea to think about spreading to other places as well.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I agree with your solution and I think every cemetery should try and do this. Herbicides can help decrease the unwanted overgrowth, but it will harm the surrounding ecosystem. Mowers also should not be used because it sends harmful emissions into the air. The overgrowth needs to be destroyed because it too is destroying the surrounding ecosystem but it needs to be handled in an ecofriendly way. Goats on the other hand will be a great, ecofriendly way to help out the cemetery. The goats would have many herbs to choose from which would continue the process smoothly. This solution is very environmentally friendly and should be seen through by every cemetery that has an issue with overgrowth.
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