Courtesy of Get My Goats.
EAST FALMOUTH – Christmas is long gone, but gifts can still be given to local goats – an old Christmas Tree.
Several goat farms on Cape Cod provide an alternative composting option and accept the trees to provide a fresh meal for the animals.
“They’ve been eating only hay for a couple months since October and they like to see something green,” said Meghan Hanawalt, the owner and chief goatherd of Get My Goats in East Falmouth.
“There are a lot of fresh trees that are available now.
Get My Goats is a natural brush clearing and poison ivy control company.
“We don’t use any gasoline or power tools,” Hanawalt said. “We use goats and manual labor to clear yards.”
The goats provide an environmentally-friendly way to clear brush on property.
“In the summer they go out to people’s yards and eat brush, mostly things like poison ivy, cat briar, grapevines and bittersweet – a lot of the things we don’t like,” Hanawalt said.
Hanawalt said the operation is pretty thorough as the goats eat the leaves and the goatherd pulls the roots out.
In the winter, none of that brush is growing.
“The Christmas trees are a nice treat for them,” she said.
Hanawalt said the response for donations of Christmas trees has been strong this year and her farm has received more than a dozen.
“My goats have more than they can eat,” she said. “Right now I am working with a couple of local goat farmers who are also looking for Christmas trees.”
While talking with the CapeCod.com NewsCenter, Hanawalt was picking up a tree to share with a friend.
Other goat farmers seeking Christmas trees include Green Goddess Farm in East Falmouth and Goat Green Cape Cod in Centerville.
Hanawalt said if the goats haven’t eaten anything green for a while, they can get through a single tree in a couple hours.
She said her goats have more trees than they can eat right now.
“They are kind of overwhelmed by the number of Christmas trees,” Hanawalt said. “I think they’ll last a few weeks.”
Hanawalt inspects the trees prior to picking them up to make sure they are okay for the animals to eat. She said she has to make sure the trees were not decorated with certain items, including tinsel, which can hurt the animals.
Hanawalt is considering partnering with a local Christmas tree farm next holiday season.
“When you pick up the Christmas tree you’ll have information on how to donate it after you are done for the holidays,” she said.
“That way the people who are getting the trees from the farm know they will have a second life after the holidays, and also so we know that the trees are local, fresh and part of the environment here.”
Get My Goats typically clears residential yards during the summer.
This past summer, the company did some work at Falmouth Academy.
“The poison ivy was encroaching on the soccer fields so we went out there and helped clear that up,” she said.
More information and contact information can be found at getmygoatscapecod.com.
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