Our 40-acre home farm is divided into two parts. Approximately half of the farm is in an agricultural easement and must be used only for organic farming purposes in perpetuity. The other half, a mix of oak woodlands and hilly grassland that reaches down and into the waters of Harkins Slough, is in a conservation easement. It is forever safe from development and cannot be farmed either. However, this land is far from pristine. Much of the area had been farmed extensively in the past, and most of it was overrun with invasive weeds such as poison hemlock, Italian thistle, wild radish, and non-native grasses.
As part of our management team for habitat restoration in this area, we brought in a small herd of goats and cows several years ago. The goats are excellent at eating the weeds (they seem to actually love eating poison hemlock with no ill effects.) The cows are here to take the place of native grazers like elk, as we attempt to return native grasses to the hillside. Managing the animals is tricky though. There is too much for them to eat at some times of year, and too little after a long dry summer. There was so little rain this spring that the offerings out in the restoration area are even slimmer than usual right now.
So this week we let the goats and cows out onto an old lettuce patch that has bolted. (Bolting is when the lettuce plant sends up a central stalk which will eventually flower and set seed. Once lettuce starts to bolt it becomes bitter and unharvestable. Once this crop started to bolt we didn’t harvest off it anymore and let the weeds take over.) We don’t have time to get another crop planted and harvested in this field before we use it for our Harvest Festival October 5th, so we’re in no hurry to get the tractor in there to work up the ground. After the Harvest Festival we’ll put this plot into cover crop for the winter and won’t plant into it again until the spring, so we’re well outside the window of safety for having animal manure on farmland.
The result – the goats and cows are like the proverbial kids in a candy shop. They couldn’t be happier. In addition to the bolted lettuce, the field has a fair amount of malva (also known as cheeseweed) and other weeds, which the animals also enjoy. We figure they’ll get a good week or two of feasting on this patch before we need to bring them other food again (they’re also very good at handling leftovers from the farmers market). And it gives the restoration area a much needed break from the animals.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
