The Goats Among Us
20 Nubian goats put bite on invasive broom on Mount Tzouhalem
Nubian goats apparently have a lot going for them.
“I like their size,” says Moira Barron of Oceanside Goatscaping Vegetation Control. “Their milk is good, they’re great grazers, and they’re manageable.
“And they’re easy to train. They can’t jump — not allowed.”
Of course, some things come naturally to goats — and that would include eating the most unlikely of items.
In this case, the herd is dining on invasive Scotch broom above the Kingsview Road area on Mount Tzouhalem in North Cowichan.
Broom is highly flammable and a potential fuel for wildfires. Cutting back the plant is a way to reduce the fire risk on property owned by developer Vesta Properties.
For at least a year, Barron’s herd of 20 goats will be busy knocking back the broom, concentrating initially on the property’s eastern and southern boundaries next to the Municipal Forest Reserve.
“Observations are that the goats are able to chew through the broom and leave only stubble,” says David Conway, North Cowichan’s director of subdivision and environmental services. “This approach minimizes soil erosion associated with machine removal and is less human labour intensive than manual cutting and pulling.”
If you cringe at the prospect of eating broom, consider that goats are also avid consumers of invasive blackberry bushes.
“They love blackberries,” Barron says. “It’s like blackberry pie to us.”
About 40 percent of their diet is broom, the other 60 percent a combination of hay, alfalfa and goat kibble.
During the day, Barron and her husband, Rick Bennie, watch over the goats in a steel corral that is moved every several days.
In the evenings, the goats are kept safe inside shipping containers, guarded by two dogs, a Great Pyrenees and a Blue Healer.
The BC government says the risk of “disease transmission is minimal” from domestic goats to local black-tailed deer.
The main concern is domestic goats to wild sheep and mountain goats, the province says. “If the goats are not within wild sheep or mountain goat range, the risk is minimal.”
Barron also says the seeds are sterile once they pass through the goats’ guts.
Vesta development manager Michael Schmidt says the goats meet “vegetation management requirements” for the company’s master plan for residential development on the mountain.
“Scotch broom has been the predominate invasive plant growing there,” he says. “The big concern is wildfire.”
Subscribe free to sixmountains.ca. Close to 60,000 unique visitors.
— Larry Pynn, Nov. 30/2024
