Prescribed Grazing Goats

As spring rolls in, the emergence of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs remind us how a non-native species can overpopulate an area and wreak havoc. Their damage to agricultural crops and profit margins and persistence in aggravating home owners land them at the forefront of our minds (and porches, sinks, dashboards, gardens, you-name-it).

Non-native plant species with similarly invasive habits, however, are less likely to come up during the average dinner conversation in our region. Few outside of the landscaping, forestry and conservation businesses know Kudzu as “the vine that ate the south” or that native trees and rare plants are suffering behind those fragrant Japanese honeysuckle vines.

But shepherds leading herds of goats on prescribed grazing jobs may make “invasive weed” conversations mainstream yet.

Last summer, in their fifth year of business, a Maryland-based company close to our hearts: Eco-Goats made front page news when their herd was tasked with clearing invasive and harmful plants, including Poison Ivy, from Congressional Cemetery in historic Southwest Washington, in close proximity to the Anacostia. While managed grazing has been used for brush control and land clearing for centuries, the practice is popping up with more frequency today as natural parks, historic properties and homeowners seek out chemical-free alternatives for managing problem vegetation.

Over the last year at Willowsford Farm, we’ve raised our own small herd of goats, gotten them accustomed to travel, taught them to stay inside electric fencing, and have watched how voraciously they tackle Autumn Olive, Japanese Honeysuckle and Poison Ivy. With a few small jobs under their belts, they are entering the 2014 grazing season ripe and ready to deploy around town and within the farm, conservancy and community systems to maintain clean, walkable woods and eco-systems.

Come May, they’ll be tackling Japanese Stiltgrass at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia and between now and then, they’ll be setting up camp in selected sites throughout Willowsford.

In addition to watching these goats defoliate, chew their cuds and intercept seed banks, we’ve seen what a magnetic force they are with children. In the summer of 2013, the young goats participated in farm-based summer camp at the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture. They’ll be returning to Arcadia this summer and in addition, we’ve teamed up with DC Greens to incorporate goat visits into DC Public Schools in conjunction with their Growing Green Teachers programming for 2014.

Follow the herds’ journeys on Facebook and Twitter @WillowsfordFarm and contact Deborah Dramby ddramby@willowsfordfarm.com for prescribed goat grazing details, rates and scheduling.