- Joined
- Jan 5, 2016
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 10
- Location
- Near Olympia, Washington
- Hardiness Zone
- 8
- Country
Here on the Fruit Fly Farm we sometimes raise wethers. These young 'fixed' male goats are odorless and make wonderful pets, and are useful for gardening in several ways.
The biggest advantage of our wethers is the compost they produce. This is a rich mixture of about 80 percent hay and 20 percent 'nanny berries.' During the winter in climates like ours which can be cold and wet, the best practice is to keep piling up fresh local hay bedding in the goat barn, rather than shoveling it out. This causes heat to be spontaneously generated in the hay under the goats, keeping them warm and dry. It also speeds up the decomposition of the hay and nanny berries. When the bedding is shoveled out in the spring, the bottom layers are already partially composted. The best goat compost has been aged for at least a year before use. We keep it in a pile covered by a tarp to prevent runoff until it is decomposed enough to be used in the garden. When it is ready, it is very light, fluffy and crumbly and has no bad odor.
In my experience, goat compost grows crops better than any store-bought fertilizer! Some of our beets (Detroit Dark Red and Early Wonder) grow to the size of bowling balls in this, but still are tender and sweet, with no tough fibers. I have had Swiss Chard leaves grow to a height of four feet using this stuff, and it's also why I keep having to really struggle to dig out two-foot-long parsnips!
Gardening with the goats is a reciprocal affair. In exchange for the compost they provide, they get to eat all the mature pea vines and lots of other fresh garden produce. They also get to eat tons of weeds and especially blackberries which, due to my recent illness, almost overran the place.
A rather interesting use for wethers which I have not yet tried, is pulling a small plow to help till the garden. This is done, but it's not common, and I have always been curious about how well it actually works. They are very strong animals and I can see them doing this without any trouble. Anyway, this is how our wethers fit into our organic gardening scheme. We love them and I can't imagine gardening without them!