Goat Grazing Service used to combat Garlic Mustard and Dame's Rocket

Goat Dispatch LLC dispatched goats to eat invasive Garlic Mustard, Dame's Rocket and Buckthorn. In the spring of 2015 volunteer wildflower spotters came across a heavily infested patch of Garlic Mustard in a remote part of the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, MN. The topography of this area is very steep with deep ravines and lots of downed trees. Hand-pulling and weed-whipping options were not an option with lack of funds and volunteer help. Dave Lee and Jake Langeslag (the Goat Wranglers) Deployed goats from April 28th until July 3rd and grazed close to 8 acres of deeply infested garlic mustard. Goats grazed the leaves and seed heads off of the plants while they were still forming. This practice dramatically reduced the amount of seeds that were dropped. It is our hopes that we will be able to graze this area again in 2016 as many 1st year garlic mustard plants were also observed at this location. Be sure to subscribe to our channel or visit our website www.goatdispatch.com for further updates!

[@kentsolberg7594]

Jake, Well done video! Easy to watch and informative. Keep up the good work!

[@bonnienelson7657]

I live on the Minnesota river valley, waiting on info can’t wait!

[@JimLaddie]

My experience with goats is that it is all about timing. You may think that they are not eating some plants and you may be right but at a different time in the season they do. They may also only eat the tops but come back later and eat the rest. Also, there is a huge difference between having goats on the land for a few weeks versus actually living on that land permanently.

[@nadarkhan4894]

Very nice nature +video VERY NICE

[@danielofori9607]

This is great

[@miltonaliff3316]

I have 100 acres that if anyone wants or needs to graze goats on can, just have to put up your temporary fencing, good pond and fair barn for shelter,

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Where do you live? Maybe we could find someone

[@miltonaliff3316]

West Virginia,near Beckley

[@kassauimohamed6859]

Youre forgetting that were here to watch the goats. LESS YOU MORE GOATS

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Yes more goats!

[@andynieuwenhuis7833]

He Still NEEDS TO Pass on Information to People; Who may Want to start a goat herd.

[@cathyreed538]

Do they eat the first year plants?

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

yes

[@jamessparkman6604]

@@jacoblangeslag7887 I bet 40,000 goats would definitely speed up the consumption of invasive plants which will give plenty of time for people to plant the native plants and thus saving more native species. Not a bad idea then it will be 400,000 goats and here’s a good mythological idea to keep the goats under control in case they are two numerous trolls

[@larrabeejl]

100 goats, 50 pigs, 200 chickens and in one weeks time the forest is cleared.

[@scottbenzing1361]

Herbaculture

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

And you can sit back in a lawn chair and watch the show!

[@radioguy1620]

What breed of goats and can they handle cold weather up in Maine in a barn. nice video als very well done with good data.

[@JoeMama-vj8es]

The answer is sheep.

[@merabaserra3213]

MeRa baserra

[@heidikass8346]

Do you have an update on this from summer 2016? Really excited to see this as I am also in SE MN and have been contemplating how to handle a growing garlic mustard problem. Thanks!

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Now that things are slowing down we are actually going through the data. We have an independent company taking down data after we work on areas. In my personally opinion goats are doing an amazing job on garlic mustard. For most sites they rarely miss one!

[@yoopermann7942]

would sheep work also?

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

sheep work in some areas as we run those too. I find they are less likely to go into the thick brambles and like to be more out in the open if possible

[@autodidact9122]

Just curious, are these also meat goats or do you just offer as a grazing service?

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

These are meat goat breeds (mostly now) that are used primarily for grazing. We do not raise goats for the main purpose of meat - from my calculations goats are worth more alive in grazing service vs meat at the sale barn.

[@doreenlloyd-thompson44]

So do you have garlic goats cheese

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Id like someone to test the flavor and nutrient content of this!

[@yoc20]

Once you get the goats to get it down to were they are not gonna eat that last bit of rooted stems...bring in some pigs .They will root out and turn that soil in a few weeks.

[@abumuusaamerrickabdalkhabi4656]

D Yoc how about chickens, I've been reviewing permaculture and they say running chickens help keep down bugs, diseases what do u think.

[@yoc20]

AbuMuusaa Merrick Abd Al Khabir Chickens eat bugs naturally. .if they are free ranging they will eat as many bugs as possible. .I have seen in many videos that farmers will have chickens following their cow heard to eat the fly maggots tbat use tbe cow droppings to lay their eggs in. The farmer will actually step on a cow pile that has been sitting for roughly 4 days that will have maggots in it and sprinkle chicken feed directly on top of fhe cow pile...the chickens will scratch that dropping all over tbs place getting that feed and maggots. This helps spread the cow dropping that in turn improves the soil and helps control the fly population and chickens love it as well as saves you money in feed and even more you get better eggs and meat birds.

[@TheUserid82]

Disrupting the ground on the scale that pigs do would be a bad thing as that just promotes the fast growing weeds to take back over restarting the cycle. With the goats leaving the roots in place the roots act as stabilizers for that season keeping the ground from washing away so if you bring in something that will target the roots you will have erosion before the native plants take back over. Goats are not a one time deal and the problem is gone. They are a return a number of cycles each time weakening the target plant giving the plants you want time to establish with the fact that they poop in the area a added benefit to fertilize as they attack the weeds.

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Thanks for this as this answers the question perfectly!

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Yes pigs are a big reset to the land if you want that!

[@Derdeakea]

I just found these videos. Just a heads up don’t search goat dispatch! I thought it would be newer videos from you. Definitely not.

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Yeah you gotta watch out for the other meaning of Dispatch!

[@billybob3644]

Destroy all buckthorn

[@danielguadian2716]

Shut up....I want to see the hosts eating....

[@jacoblangeslag7887]

Garlic mustard is good to eat to some people!

[@merabaserra3213]

Ok