Mares Eat Oats...

     Today is an exciting day at our house.  In a few hours, I'm going to have 40 goats in my yard!  A local company called the Goat Lady rents herds of goats by the day to eat... well... everything.  Many people around here use them for blackberries, but we don't have much of a problem and I like the ones I have.  But the other big problem in the Pacific Northwest is English ivy.  It's like kudzu in the South.  It doesn't grow quite as fast, but it does smother everything in its path.  In the four years we've lived here, we've lost three large maple trees to ivy.  Ivy is also terrible for combating soil erosion and can even make it worse.  Considering we live on the side of a hill, erosion is a big concern of mine.

 It looks like a beautiful woodland setting.  And it is.  But most of the green on the floor here is ivy.  All it wants to do is crawl up trees and smother them to death.  

Again, mostly ivy.  You can see the ivy advancing up the trees in the background.  It's insanely beautiful, but so, so, deadly! 

Goodbye, ivy.  I look forward to replacing you with non-invasive natives.  Preferably ones that make food...

I'm going to try to post pictures throughout the day so stay tuned!

UPDATE!!
THEY'RE HERE!!!

 First came the truck...

Then Mr. Farmer let the boys help him install the fence.

And then it was time to release the goats!!

 A couple of the babies.  Mr. Farmer says that babies that are raised nursing from browsing mothers gain much more weight and are healthier than kids raised on the bottle.  Who knew, right?


And here they are!  They have attacked the ivy with such vigor, I'm afraid they may run out of food by the time the afternoon is over!  One of the does is pregnant and may kid any time!  I'll try to get a picture of her when she comes near the fence again.

Such an exciting day!

More pics soon!

UPDATE AGAIN!!

I'm pretty sure this is the doe that's due any minute. She hasn't done much traveling up and down the bank. (Update: This is actually a sheep.  I thought it looked pretty sheepish, but didn't know for sure.  I asked Mr. Farmer today [5/12] and she is, indeed a ewe and still full of lambs!  Still no babies yet, but we have actually retained their services for two more days because we were so happy with the job they did!  Still time!)

This is toward the end of the day.  You can see how far up the trees they've eaten and there is a noticeable difference on the bank.

 We have been telling the kids all day not to touch the fence as it is electrified.  It pulses so you can touch it 20 times and not get zapped, but that next time, boy you wish you hadn't done that.  Guess who is the only one who got shocked today.  ME!  I had my hand through a hole.  I wasn't touching anything at all, but I still got zapped.  It was like a strong jolt of static electricity.  The goat I was petting felt it, too.  She forgave me though, when I offered her a few tasty weeds.  Sorry goatie!

We will have these beauties until Sunday morning.  I will post a few after shots then!!

Check out my next post for before and after pics!