Donated Christmas trees provide feast for local goats
GARDNER — Baa-humbug!
That’s what some local goats will be thinking about residents who choose to send their Christmas tree to a boring landfill instead of donating it to be recycled at a nearby farm.
Christmas trees, it turns out, are quite the delicacy for goats, according to several local farm owners. And the trend of turning used trees into treats for the animals is one that has been increasing in recent years.
“Goats have been growing in popularity in a crazy way in the last five to 10 years, so now more people know that there is an alternative to just throwing their Christmas tree away,” explained Pat Stewart, owner of Hames and Axle Farm in Ashburnham. “But farmers have always known that goats will eat trees.”
The trees provided a much-needed cold-weather treat for the animals, according to T.J. Johns, the therapeutic farm coordinator at the Carl E. Dahl House at Evergreen Grove in Gardner, which is home to several goats.
Pine needles provide goats with nutrition, other health benefits
“In the winter months, they get bored with nothing to forage on, so they love the trees. They’ll eat them right down to the sticks,” Johns explained. “The pine needles are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. The sap can also act as a natural de-wormer.”
Johns added that the farm’s goats aren't the only animals that enjoy nibbling on old Christmas trees.
“The sheep and the alpacas will pick at the trees, but it’s mostly the goats,” he said.
Goats, according to Stewart, will eat pine needles as a way to keep themselves healthy.
More:An innovative program in Gardner is taking the reins of substance abuse recovery
“What’s neat is that the goats can actually treat themselves – if they know there is something wrong, they will find the food they need to make themselves feel better,” she said. “I don’t know how they do it.”
Melissa Belanger, owner of Slightly Off Course Farm in Ashburnham, said the donated trees are a treat for the goats at her farm.
“It’s fun for them because they are foragers, and in the winter, everything is covered by snow and ice, and they get pretty bored with their hay and grain,” she said. “They go hog-wild over the Christmas trees.”
Belanger said uses the trees even after the goats eat them bare.
“After the fact, we strip the trees and build stuff out of the trunks for some of the other animals, like little ramps and ladders,” she explained. “We also have a wood-chipper, so we’ll use the wood chips in the animal houses.”
Thomas Andrews, program director at the Carl E. Dahl House, said the practice of donating Christmas trees to be eaten by local goats represents a win-win situation for everyone.
“This gives local residents the chance to kind of give back to the community, it helps feed our animals, and it gets the word about our mission here out to the public,” he said.
Andrews said the farm was overwhelmed by the number of donated Christmas trees it received last year.
New England Santa Camp: Where the region's Santas and Mrs. Clauses get their training
“We had so many we almost didn’t know what to do with them all,” he said, adding that the story about the Carl E. Dahl House accepting used trees had been picked up by several local and national news broadcasts last year. “The response was awesome, and the goats loved it.”
Trees should be untreated and free of any hooks and decorations, such as tinsel or ornaments, before being dropped off at a local farm.
“And if people don’t know if their tree is treated, we can still use it in another way and not give it to the goats,” Stewart said.
Trees can be dropped off at the Slightly Off Course Farm at 127 Williams Road in Ashburnham; the Hames and Axle Farm at 18 Kraetzer Road in Ashburnham; and the Carl E. Dahl House at 827 Green St. in Gardner.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Donate your old Christmas tree to a Gardner-area goat farm
