While it’s technically the ninth day of Christmas, many people are already taking down their Christmas decorations and figuring out what to do with their wilting, browning Christmas trees.
There are a lot of options for past-their-prime Christmas trees in Wyoming. For instance, Wyoming Game and Fish occasionally collect trees to be sunk into ponds and reservoirs to serve as fish habitats.
Another option is to give them to the goats. For them, it’s a Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
“If I put two Christmas trees in the goat pasture in the morning, they’ll be gone by the evening,” said Erik Bailly with Wind River Pack Goat Adventures in Boulder, Wyoming. “You’re left with a peeled tree that can be chipped, trimmed, or chopped for whatever you’d like.”
It’s What’s For Dinner
Goats aren’t discerning when it comes to Christmas trees. Whether lush and green or brown and dry, they’ll eagerly devour whatever tree ends up in front of them.
“White pine, Scotch pine and Fraser fir are all just fine,” Bailly said. “Even lodgepole pine is fine. They can be a little picky about Scotch Pine, but they’ll still eat the whole tree.”
Bailly ensures none of the trees he receives are hiding anything potentially hazardous to the herd of 30 goats. Any paint, tinsel, or other artificial adornments are removed, so it’s nothing but the greens and the good stuff.
The goats will nibble every needle and strip the bark straight off. All that’s left is a bare husk of a tree that can be used for whatever Bailly needs or wants to do with it.
Since the condition of the tree doesn’t matter, there’s usually a backlog of trees since Bailly limits their intake to two trees a day. Even when dry and mostly devoid of needles, the goats will undoubtedly eat whatever ends up in the pasture.
“As long as it’s natural, they’re good to go,” he said.
Goat ‘Superfood’
A barren Christmas tree in January makes many people melancholy as the holiday season concludes. Bailly sees the benefits, as the influx of Christmas trees is a nutritious windfall for his goats.
“There’s a lot of health benefits to giving Christmas trees to goats,” he said. “There are trace nutrients, good antioxidants, and some minerals in the needles and bark. They’re high in vitamin C and a little vitamin A, too.”
The goats can also tap into an abundance of sap and pitch in the trees’ bark. Bailly said that sap is an excellent and natural source of intestinal worm control.
More than anything, Bailly said the trees diversify the goats’ diet at a time when they’re eating a lot of the same. That makes them a seasonal “superfood” and a welcome addition to their menu.
“They're exposed to the monotony of alfalfa, grass hay, supplemental blocks for most of the year,” he said. “When Christmas comes around, it’s a nice treat for them.”
Into The Wild With Goats
Goats might not present themselves as a go-to pack animal for many Wyomingites, but Wind River Pack Goat Adventures has goats tramping throughout the Wyoming wilderness. Bailly said the goats are booked for various outdoor adventures more than a year out.
“Families with young kids enjoy them, and it takes some of the weight off Mom and Dad,” he said. “Renting to locals is my first and foremost priority, but families tend to be very caring and utilize the goats to their maximum potential.”
Bailly said many outdoor adventurers find goats more manageable than horses or llamas. They follow without much prompting, the entire landscape serves as their traveling smorgasbord, and they can scramble over rough terrain that might be impassible for larger animals.
The usual delegation is one goat per person, but no goat goes out alone.
“They definitely like having their buddies with them, so we have a two-goat minimum,” Bailly said. “There’s a high interest in pack goats in Wyoming, and I’m really enjoying it.”
Evergreen Appetite
Now that the Christmas season is winding down, a forest of Christmas trees has appeared at Wind River Pack Goat Adventures. Bailly hopes more people will consider giving their trees to the goats as another act of generosity in the spirit of the season.
“Christmas is great, but I’ll take pine trees year-round,” he said. “And when Halloween comes around, I'll take pumpkins because the goats will eat those too. My goats always have an appetite for holiday decorations.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
