Goats as Grazing Animals for Invasive Plant Management Bill Jacobs, Kathy Schwager, Marilyn Jordan: The Nature Conservancy Karen Kazel: Suffolk County Farm Goats eating Oriental bittersweet.Jordan

SUMMARY: The Nature Conservancy carried out this goat grazing project at the Suffolk County Farm in Results were presented at the August 24, 2006 meeting of the Long Island Invasive Species Management Area (LIISMA). Goats are great at eating woody plants, and will even eat the bark off of trees. They also eat some herbaceous plants, but first they eat woody species, then they move on to herbaceous plants in order of their gastronomic preference. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is down near the bottom of the goat menu. Swallow-wort (Cynanchum rossicum and C. louisae) are toxic. Grass cover tends to either increase slightly, or remain unchanged, as long as there are plenty of other plants to eat. Goats eat more intensively "close to home" (i.e. location of water and shelter) than farther away. Thus a long narrow pen like the one we used is not the ideal shape for uniform woody control, though good for seeing effects of browse along an intensity gradient. Browsing doesn't kill woody plants after just one summer of goat exposure, so when goats are removed the woodies (and other plants) grow back. Repeated browsing for a couple of years, or following one year of browse with herbicide in year two, would be required for permanent kill of woody plants (and possibly herbaceous perennials). So goats are good for woody control in grasslands. Not good for forests where abundant deer already fill the goat niche much too well. Text, data analysis and photograph by Marilyn J. Jordan, Ph.D. Senior Conservation Scientist, The Nature Conservancy on Long Island. Uplands Farm Sanctuary. 250 Lawrence Hill Rd., Cold Spring Harbor, NY USA (631)

Goat pen 25 ft x 370 ft Pen 1 grazed 4/14/06 to 5/21/06 Monitored 1 st time: August 15, 2005 Monitored 2 nd time: June 29, 2006 Grazed 5 weeks; ungrazed 6 weeks Pen 2 & 3 grazed 5/21/06 Monitored: June 29, 2006 Grazed 5 weeks

Pen 1 Before & After Grazing 2005 (before) 2006 (after)

Grazed 5 weeks; ungrazed 6 weeks

Goat pen | Sheep pen Goats prefer woody vegetation whereas sheep prefer herbaceous.

Grazed Pen #2 | Ungrazed Pen #4 June 29, 2006

Grazed and Ungrazed

Grazed Pen #3 | Ungrazed Pen #4

Bark eaten off trees Japanese honeysuckle Multiflora rose

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