Last year when the wild turkey was brooding eggs by the lavender labyrinth, Ramon told us not to even think of the turkey when the dogs were around. He said they would see our thoughts and go after her. She lived to hatch and raise a rafter of turkeys and she is at it again this year.
I think of this when walking by the mule’s ears with the goats. The goats love them.
However, it isn’t working! Whether I think of the mule’s ears or not, the goats eat them. All the leaves along our path have large bit marks out of them.
In studies on the use of browsing with various animals, it is shown that animals both help and hinder the native populations of plants depending on frequency and intensity of grazing/browsing (and there is a difference). It is important that the browsing is intense, and also that it is not too frequent.
Walking the goats on the same path, day in and day out, their eating a little here, a little there, over and over— let’s just say, we flunk on both intensity and frequency!
Take a Biodynamic tour at our Open House, June 23, 2012. For details, see Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields Open House.
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