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yuiyoshida

(41,832 posts)
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 02:40 PM Jan 2015

Discarded Christmas trees a vitamin-filled treat for goats



WESTBROOK, Maine (AP) -- Christmas trees can be enjoyed long after they are discarded by a family. They're a great source of vitamin C -- for goats.

A farm in the northeastern state of Maine is extending an invitation to residents who don't know what to do with their discarded trees.

Hillary Knight, the barnyard manager at Smiling Hill Farm in Maine, says the farm's goats are more than happy to eat the trees.

She says it's a win-win. Humans can recycle their trees and the goats get a treat.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150106p2g00m0dm015000c.html


12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Discarded Christmas trees a vitamin-filled treat for goats (Original Post) yuiyoshida Jan 2015 OP
Yum! immoderate Jan 2015 #1
not a yuiyoshida Jan 2015 #2
ba ah ah ah ah wheniwasincongress Jan 2015 #3
A few Years ago, this might have been fatal for the Goats PeoViejo Jan 2015 #4
Farmers say Christmas trees make great goat snacks yuiyoshida Jan 2015 #7
...OK, we agree on that point PeoViejo Jan 2015 #8
LOL! I didn't know goats would eat old Christmas trees! Sunlei Jan 2015 #5
That is not the best use of a Christmas tree IMO Savannahmann Jan 2015 #6
Given their druthers, I can say with authority goats would..... Brother Buzz Jan 2015 #9
so for goats.... yuiyoshida Jan 2015 #11
Eating pumpkins in November is just dessert Brother Buzz Jan 2015 #12
Tree sellers here spray the trees for ticks. benz380 Jan 2015 #10
 

PeoViejo

(2,178 posts)
4. A few Years ago, this might have been fatal for the Goats
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 02:53 PM
Jan 2015

when lead foil was being used to make tinsel. I bet there is some left here and there.

 

PeoViejo

(2,178 posts)
8. ...OK, we agree on that point
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 03:02 PM
Jan 2015

but any trees with toxic tinsel should be Hazardous waste and not used as feed.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
5. LOL! I didn't know goats would eat old Christmas trees!
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 02:55 PM
Jan 2015

My horse has all the grass and hay she wants, but some times she nips just the fresh green from the tips of evergreen trees. She also eats new flower buds from many types of flowers. She's never eaten the whole tree!

wonder why that one goat has the partial body clip

 

Savannahmann

(3,891 posts)
6. That is not the best use of a Christmas tree IMO
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 02:59 PM
Jan 2015

This is.



Big Cat Rescue, and in the interest of truth in posting, I do donate to them.

But in all honesty, recycling your tree by allowing it to be a tasty treat for goats, or a flimsy plaything for a large and amazing cat is always better than sending it to a landfill IMO.

Brother Buzz

(36,444 posts)
9. Given their druthers, I can say with authority goats would.....
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 03:05 PM
Jan 2015

far prefer unsold pumpkins from Halloween.





Same can be said for sheep but they appreciate the ranchers busting them first

Brother Buzz

(36,444 posts)
12. Eating pumpkins in November is just dessert
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 03:43 PM
Jan 2015

We're home base to a huge goat outfit. The goats spend most of their year out eating bushes, doing contract weed control in urban areas, but this time of the year they are put on alfalfa fields after the last mowing. Eating alfalfa followed by a pumpkin dessert must be like being in high cotton to a goat.

benz380

(534 posts)
10. Tree sellers here spray the trees for ticks.
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 03:08 PM
Jan 2015

I don't know if that would be dangerous for the goats.
We bought a cheap tree one year and found out the hard way that it wasn't sprayed.
The lit angel on top got real dim and when I went to check it out I found the reason: it was full of ticks drawn to the warmth of the bulb. We ended up having the house fumigated after Christmas because we found ticks in the carpet and on the walls.

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