Harvey reporting again, since Nessie is at home now. The goats finished their work in Hood River and we moved on to Gladstone,OR. We are working on a project next to the Willamette River. The goats are working on blackberries and English Ivy. The goats have 10 acres to eat their way through. Craig estimates that it will take a little over a month to treat the 10 acres.
It is a nice location for a border collie. It is nice have the river so close especially on the hots days, Craig lets me take dips in the river. The river is influenced by the tide but not salty. The water level changes by 5 to 6 feet. When Craig sets up the fence he has to make sure the fence is above the high tide. The water would short out the fence. With the river so close Craig can use 5 gallon bucks to fill the water trough for the goats.
The goats are currently working to clear the blackberries on a small island (it is only a true island in the winter when the water is higher). To get the goats on the island Craig had to get them to go across a small stream. At low tide it is about 2 feet wide, at high tide it is about 8 feet wide. Craig had it all planned to move the goats over on low tide. He did not know that a person was going to clean out the spillway on the dam on the small stream. Craig had just finished putting up the fence and was making the last preparation to move the goats when he noticed that the stream was flowing fast and about 5 feet across. Someone had opened up the dam to lower the pond. Craig had to wait about an hour for the water to drop. Even then he had to build a small bridge for the goats. Some of the goats took the bridge, some jumped and others decided to swim. It was a little wild. Only one goat got on the wrong side of the fence. Once all the goats were across, I helped get the one stray goat back into the pen.
It will take about a week for the goats to eat the vegetation on the island. Hopefully, the timing will hit low tide. If a goat gets wild coming back, I will get it back in line.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.