Goats fighting America's plant invasion • Hacker News Board

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#31

Post by ndespres » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 5:22 PM UTC

ayuvar wrote: post #30

ndespres wrote: post #6

When my coworkers see news like this they start telling me that I ought to bring my fleet of Nubian goats out on jobs like this. They do great work, easily digesting poison ivy (and destroying its seeds so it can't regrow from their droppings). Goats are a big component of a project I'm working on now, where they will graze on fallow land, eating weeds and grasses, depositing fertilizer and tilling the land with thei…

What do you do for a living that involves strategizing around a 'fleet' of goats? Do you lease them out to a client or are you some kind of environmental planner? I've made jokes about getting a goat so I don't have to mow the lawn anymore, but you've clearly taken it to the next level.

My partner and I run a small diversified farm. The goats are part of a small dairy for our personal consumption (dang restrictive raw dairy laws) as well as contributing to our production of goats' milk soap. Plus they make great fertilizer, which is really important for our field didn't have great nutrient content when we started.

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#32

Post by stinos » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 5:41 PM UTC

ndespres wrote: post #31

ayuvar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do for a living that involves strategizing around a 'fleet' of goats? Do you lease them out to a client or are you some kind of environmental planner? I've made jokes about getting a goat so I don't have to mow the lawn anymore, but you've clearly taken it to the next level.

My partner and I run a small diversified farm. The goats are part of a small dairy for our personal consumption (dang restrictive raw dairy laws) as well as contributing to our production of goats' milk soap. Plus they make great fertilizer, which is really important for our field didn't have great nutrient content when we started.

I usually don't look at profiles on HN, but seems when I do it's worth it. Visited your website and I'm impressed and really love what you are doing there. I truly believe if more people would go back (or in my view, forward) to such lifestyle or similar the world would be a better place in general. Me and my wife have been tinkering with ideas like this for a couple of years now but really didn't have the time to start (still rebuilding the house which came with the land). Seeing things like this definitely works as extra motivation.

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#33

Post by debacle » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 5:43 PM UTC

TIL phragmites is an invasive species. An incredibly fun and useful plant, right up there with day lily (also invasive and hardy). Kudzu is beautiful but incredibly destructive.

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#34

Post by forkandwait » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 5:44 PM UTC

manishsharan wrote: post #12

I have always wondered why western nations do not consume goat meat. One of my christian friends mentioned is that ii is because of hooves and devil symbolism; is there any merit to this argument ? I understand Hindus don't eat beef because of religious reasons and muslims don't eat pork also because of religious reasons. This is a comparison of nutritional value of goat vs. beef vs pork. http://www.wolframalpha.com/…

Once there is a Portlandia episode where they eat goat it will be all over the place...

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#35

Post by coldcode » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 6:01 PM UTC

Amezarak wrote: post #20

coldcode wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very tasty one at that. You can't eat kudzu like you can a tasty goat.

Actually, kudzu is edible. But it certainly isn't as delicious as goat!

I wonder if you could stuff a goat with kudzu and bake it? Seems recursive in a way.

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#36

Post by scentoni » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 6:39 PM UTC

manishsharan wrote: post #12

I have always wondered why western nations do not consume goat meat. One of my christian friends mentioned is that ii is because of hooves and devil symbolism; is there any merit to this argument ? I understand Hindus don't eat beef because of religious reasons and muslims don't eat pork also because of religious reasons. This is a comparison of nutritional value of goat vs. beef vs pork. http://www.wolframalpha.com/…

Lamb and mutton are traditional staples in Europe, as well as goat and kid to a lesser degree. In the US, there was plentiful land for grazing cattle, and beef was considered more prestigious than mutton in England, so that's what they settlers focused on. At this point the flavor of lamb [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexanoic_acid etc.] is considered unpalatable by many in the US and most recipes are designed to minimize gaminess. Supermarkets like Safeway usually have no goat meat but small amounts of lamb. I think that has more to do with it than any demonic symbolism.

Re: Goats fighting America's plant invasion

#37

Post by digi_owl » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 10:05 AM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #23

digi_owl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it is a matter of taste. As for the pork thing, it is not just muslims. Strictly speaking christians should not touch it either as it is part of the old testament. My personal take on this is that back then someone observed that people that ate pork often ended up sick and died. While we now know that is is because of an illness passed from pig to human, back then it may well have been interpreted as divine…

Christians had those foods explicitly declared "clean" by God, at the same time that he declared Gentiles clean. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2010&versi...

Guess it shows i am no theologian...