If you only know Adam Norris as the mellifluous voice on 2BBB interviewing literary types for 'Quilling Me Softly', you might not realise he has a long history as a goatherd.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
His parents have an angora goat farm at Bega, and as a teenager Adam was pressed into service to help with bottle-feeding excess offspring.
"I grew up with goats everywhere," Adam said. "Our very first kidding season by a weird fluke most of the girls had triplets, but they can't sustain that many.
"I remember we had 20 kids that we had to poddy feed. There were bottles between my legs and under my arms, with all of them drinking at the same time. And after they drink, they all want to have a little sleep, so you'd sit there covered in a blanket of kid."
However, it wasn't Adam who came up with the idea of starting Green Goats Australia, a portable, organic weed-eradication business now operating from a property at Spicketts Creek.
It was his partner Amanda Carter, an environmental scientist, who'd heard goats were an effective land management tool.
"The business is a good pairing of our backgrounds," she said. "A friend of mine had told me about using goats for weed management years ago. It was one of those things where you think wow, wouldn't it be cool to do that one day.
"And in this area, weeds are such a challenge, but people don't like herbicides. It seemed serendipitous."
Adam and Amanda acquired their herd of 19 Rangeland cross Boer kids at the end of October.
Now six months old, the mixture of adorably cute does and wethers have been trained as biddable employees using treats like hay and mulberry leaves as reinforcement.
"We got them early and we put a lot of time and effort into training them," Adam said. "So they would be respectful of the fence and come and get in the trailer when they hear the bell."
The trailer is not only their transport, it also acts as their shelter when they are out on a job.
With specially-made, flexible electric fences, the goats can be confined to a particular area, avoiding gardens, crops or fruit trees, and moved to a new patch once they've dealt with the weeds.
The fencing is also very strong against predators like wild dogs and foxes, Adam said. "We wanted to get something robust, and this is intended to keep coyotes out."
Contrary to the myth that goats are fence-leaping rascals, Adam said they can't jump very high but they do have a strong sense of curiosity.
"They're excellent climbers. Most fences have diagonal straining posts and goats will climb up and get over. If they're eating along a fenceline and there's a gap, their first instinct is to see what they can find."
Adam and Amanda's Green Goats will happily devour Bitou Bush, Privet, Blackberry, Fireweed, Willows, Thistles and more.
They could clean up a fireweed-infested pasture in a week, Adam said.
However, they need to be kept away from plants like Rhododendrons and Azaleas as they are toxic to them, and so are some types of Lantana.
"On the NSW South Coast, goats love it! But in Queensland, it can be quite bad for them. Since we're somewhere in the middle, it's more of a case-by-case basis," Adam said.
Amanda pointed out that Green Goats are not a silver bullet for all problems related to weeds.
"I work with different environment groups and they may still have to use herbicides for some things. Certainly goats are just one tool in that broader land management approach," she said.
To find out more about using cute little goats to help get rid of weeds and invasive species, check out the Green Goats Australia website at https://greengoatsaustralia.wixsite.com/home