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Hyde Park gets their goats again
By adamg on Thu, 06/11/2015 - 9:02am
Associated Press reports the goats that munched poison ivy along the Neponset River last year worked so well the city is spending $11,000 to bring them back to finish the job - and then hoof it over to the George Wright Golf Course for some similar goatscaping.
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Comments
Are these goats
F'n unionized? A $11,000 for barn animals.
They must be buying them from Steve Murphy.
Thanks for the negativity
Thanks for the negativity Debby Downer!
Personally, I think this is a great idea -- love the creativity and it's environmentally friendly. Win win for everyone!
Costs
And I bet it's still cheaper - and way better environmentally - than sending in crews armed with excavators and pesticides. And the goats are way cuter.
Math is hard
12 goats, 10 weeks. $91 per goat, per week. I assume they work 7 days a week, so it costs $13 per day for each goat.
Without more statistics, I can't really make a comparison to employing humans to do the work, but when it comes to removing poison ivy and the like, the goats will always come out ahead.
1/3 to 1/2 acre per goat per week
That means 120 goatweeks = 40-60 acres cleared, poisonous and noxious weeds completely disposed of, and fertilized.
Not like they didn't do a trial run last year or anything.
How many smoots in a goatweek?
Everyone break out your slide rules please.
for extra credit - how many Steve Murphys does it take to do the work of one goat? Fractions are allowed and extra extra credit for creative thinking.
None
He hires his friends to do the work.
You mean...
The Sheep?
You try being a Goat in the
You try being a Goat in the city of Boston with no bennies.
true
And finding that many people who can eat poison ivy without getting sick has to be tough!
"And the goats are way cuter.
"And the goats are way cuter."
And their comments are way more intelligent than most.
Plus, when all the work is
Plus, when all the work is done, you can't milk union workers or eat them. I speak from painful experience.
You can't compost invasive toxic weeds
About the only way to dispose of them is to have goats eat them. Otherwise, the brush would have to be hauled off and incinerated or it would spread dogstrangle and other invasives.
Even then, just hauling it away can spread noxious weeds, too.
The four-stomach miracle treatment just makes nutrient rich poop on site.
It's great poop, too
Goat manure is one of my favorite fertilizers, bar none. We depaved part of a parking lot and made a garden, with goat manure as our main fertilizer. You should have seen plants take off on that beat-up old ground! Less than ten years ago, now we've got two full-grown trees and a bunch of shrubs and flowers.
May not be able to burn it either
The oils that cause the reaction from poison ivy can go up in the smoke.
From the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/plants/
More fun facts:
The worst cases of poison ivy
I've ever heard of were from folks burning brush who didn't realize that there was a lot of poison ivy in it. Not fun.
If it's poison sumac...
...that smoke can be fatal. That's how bad it is.
Yeah man
For half that I would have eaten the poison ivy myself.
Explanation from my Globe story
We wrote this story and it got picked up by a bunch of outlets, but they all failed to note the $11,000 is not taxpayer money. It's from a nonprofit reserve fund used by the Parks Department.
Here's more details on the whole project:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/09/boston-expands-goat-powered...
No worries
Even if it were taxpayer money it'd still be worth it.
The AP story did include that
The AP story did include that fact, though it doesn't identify the specific fund as you did, but they specifically stated it was fund raised money (not to criticize your writing, one could assume that from what you wrote).
I can't say I've ever heard of that fund before, so perhaps the city should work on that...
Not buying, but they are
Steve didn't sell the goats, but they are friends. I think he went to high school with them.
Well then
You should volunteer your services for poison ivy and thorny devilsassbush removal on your own time - and disposal and fertilizing as well.
Without powertools, so you stay under budget.
If you think crews of humans could remove and dispose of this much stuff on this much land for less money you are f'n nuts!
Yes they are
unionized goats. Non union uses rats.
So, let's see your bid proposal
where you can supply the goats for less money.
sometimes
Sometimes the old way is better.. This is how you used to cut the lawn, long before mowers.
And what a great idea and good use of livestock. So eco friendly, plus the goats can eat until they puke.
And then eat the puke!
n/t
Cf.
Proverbs 26:11.
And then they can eat some
And then they can eat some more!
Hey you kids
Get on my lawn!
Nothing available for 02136
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00UBYDXXQ/ref=nosim/0sil8
this is great!
instead of scapegoats, we have goat scapes.
go go goats!