On Monday afternoon, a herd of happy goats at Bonton Farms feasted on a buffet of old Christmas trees.
"There's a myth that they'll eat anything, and they really won't," Curtis Anderson explained. "I guess they like green leafy vegetables."
And green needles too. As soon as Nick Conard dragged out the trees, the goats followed him and gathered around to eat.
"We usually take them out to the forest to forage every morning, which I did today," Conard said. "But there's not a lot of greenery out there, so I guess when I brought the trees back in here they were just ravenous for more."
Eating the discarded trees helps the goats produce more milk, while they prepare the trees for their next life. The trunks will be used by a group that makes walking canes for disabled veterans.
"I think it's a beautiful thing, but then it's, like, kind of patriotic for us to be thinking about something that would go to the landfills," Anderson said. "There are wasteful things that are going on in the world, but right here, I call this a little sanctuary."
