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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDiscarded 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
immoderate
(20,885 posts)--imm
yuiyoshida
(41,864 posts)baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea
wheniwasincongress
(1,307 posts)PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)when lead foil was being used to make tinsel. I bet there is some left here and there.
yuiyoshida
(41,864 posts)PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)but any trees with toxic tinsel should be Hazardous waste and not used as feed.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)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)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
(36,469 posts)far prefer unsold pumpkins from Halloween.
Same can be said for sheep but they appreciate the ranchers busting them first
yuiyoshida
(41,864 posts)October though January is party time!
Brother Buzz
(36,469 posts)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)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.