Stephanie Bowers owns and operates Glorious Goat Ranch and Goats on the Go – Green Bay with her family in Wrightstown. Glorious Goat Ranch is a pasture-based family goat ranch providing targeted invasive species grazing and pastured proteins in Northeast Wisconsin. Stephanie’s grazing goats are available for hire to provide entertaining, engaging and effective vegetation management in the Fox Valley.
“Our goats eat people’s problems,” joked Stephanie.
What do goats eat?
Goats eat many plant species that humans consider weeds. Buckthorn, garlic mustard, poison ivy, invasive honeysuckle, thistle, giant ragweed and more are delicious and nutritious for goats.
The goats help to clear overgrown areas at golf courses, museums, environmental centers, wetland reserves, parks, private lands and more. The goats do a lot of work on waterfronts with steep, rocky terrain. Goats easily navigate rocks, ravines, creeks and stumps. The goats are well suited for working in those challenging areas.
What is Buckthorn?
Buckthorn is a thorny invasive species that leafs out early in the spring. It outcompetes and shades over native plants. Buckthorn is high in Nitrogen and can impact soil and water quality.
How fast can goats clear an acre?
The goats eat about an acre of Buckthorn a week. They are moved every day, extending their boundary to allow them to graze more invasive plants.
While the goats are on a job site, Stephanie visits to check on them every day. The goats are provided fresh water and minerals while they are working on clearing the edges of golf courses and overgrown areas.
The goats are contained using Nofence Virtual Fencing. Each goat wears a GPS collar that audibly alerts the goats to where their boundary is and gives Stephanie 24/7 location tracking.
What is the biggest challenge in grazing goats?
One of the biggest challenges for Stephanie is knowing what vegetation her goats are exposed to while they are at a job. Stephanie relies on her goats’ natural nutritional intuition to know which plants are safe to eat. The goats selectively graze around harmful plants like White Snake Root.
Goats graze by defoliating the plants or eating all the leaves. By eating all the leaves off the Buckthorn, the plant becomes stressed and it will eventually naturally die. The goats will return in the spring to defoliate the plants again, weakening the Buckthorn and hindering its growth over time.
Why use grazing goats?
Grazing goats is an environmentally friendly, natural solution to managing weeds. Goats naturally boost soil health through nutrient cycling and restore ecosystems by encouraging growth of native plants. Goats have a minimal environmental impact. Their gentle browsing minimizes soil erosion and leaves a lighter carbon footprint.
“It’s a long-term sustainable solution to managing vegetation in an exciting way,” shared Stephanie.
Glorious Goat Ranch is featured as a part of Gather Wisconsin’s Leaders of the Land® segment, which features Wisconsin farmers moving agriculture forward through their commitment to sustainability.