Graze

Goats pictured at left dining on Polk - taken September, 2007 - Weed Feeding!

In 2006 I headed out the door to bush hog my not-so-lovely 3 acres of ragweed. My daughter was sneezing every time the breeze blew and I was sure sick of looking at it. It happened to be the only heartily growing crop on my place during the heat of that summer. Even though the goats have access to the woods June through October, the underbrush was gone and the leaves on the trees were wilting from lack of rain. Sound familiar? I climbed aboard the old tractor and fired it up agonizing over the lack of pasture. I started for the ragweed with a vengeance....then I stopped. Gee, I wondered what kind of nutritional value might be in ragweed... would the goats even eat it? I parked the tractor, called the goats, shut the gate so they couldn't go in the woods and sat on the porch to watch and study my animals.

They went for it, for a while. They trotted from plant to plant sniffing and snuffling their way through the scraggly stuff. Oh for crying out loud! Just Eat It! I wanted to yell from the porch, but I just waited, and waited, as they shopped their way around the field looking for options. They had access to the automatic waterer and one tree for shade, which is more than I had at that point so I went in the house to pout. About 30 minutes later I looked out the window and the goats were all loafing under the tree. Guilt was beginning to set in, I was starving my goats. I did some laundry and tried to distract myself for a couple of hours.

As evening rolled around and the breeze died the goats began picking their way around the field again. This time they were hungry and ready to go for it and they did. They were really chomping it down! Then I got nervous, what if it caused bloat? What if it poisoned them? Can you tell I worry a lot ?! So I did some research on the internet trying to find information about the nutritional value of ragweed and found some statements made by some universities' agriculture sites that compared the nutritional value of ragweed to that of alfalfa. Wow! Wouldn't that be a boon! I did not however figure out how to determine my particular species of ragweed, but I was feeling thankful that I seemed to have a knack for growing it, ha ha ha!

I am constantly studying the goats and their body condition with my eyes. For three weeks they grazed that three acres of ragweed stripping the leaves until there were only stems left standing. I continued to offer free choice loose goat mineral and all the water they could wish for and they continued to not only maintain their condition but it improved.

Once I realized the benefit of the ragweed to their diet I began to think differently about my pasture. I actually considered sowing more ragweed seed, except I couldn't find that on the internet. Good thing because my cattle-raising neighbors would have killed me! But it was also apparent that ragweed is very hardy and thrives on its own and since I never had trouble raising it before I could only assume that it would return the next year on its own, which it did much to my satisfaction.

So my daughter takes her allergy medicine, we save gas by not mowing, and the goats benefit from the forage. This lesson taught me to think in terms of not only being a Goat Farmer, but a Weed Farmer. I see weeds in a whole new light. I see goat farming differently also. Goats don't need a plushly mowed pasture of grasses, they need sticker bushes and fiber, polk and ragweed, brush and brambles to keep them healthy. It was this experience that spurned me to enroll in the Master Grazer's class offered through the University of Kentucky Department of Agriculture which focuses on rotational grazing and managing forage and water to extend your farm's grazing season, reduce the amount of purchased feed required which reduces the overhead of operating. The result directly affects your farm's financial bottom line and I highly recommend it! Contact your county Extension Agent for information about Master Grazer's class in your area.