I'd invest in machinery -Before- I'd think of Goats

Fencing for Goats isn't Cheap.

When Buchthorn showed up on our 120 A about 15 yrs ago most of it it was still saplings(5-10') and not too difficult to pull or grub out with a mattock. We divided the property into sections and my deer hunting gang chipped in a day of service work each fall as we we checked stands and trimmed/cleared trails when buckthorn is easy to stop(one of the last to loose its leaves so it stands out) and cleared a section in a four year rotation(actually took a couple days first year each section. Lucky few of the buckthorn were larger than 1" dia. yet. Those mother seed trees that larger we sawed off and the stump covered with 8mil BLACK plastic and zip tied in place(has killed 99%) that I read about some specialist recommending. Now each year it takes about 1/2 day to pull knee to head size saplings to keep up for each section. Buckthorn is usually shallow rooted and is easy to just pull out at that size and find. Just be sure to not just drop pulled sapling roots down back on the ground as they are tough and often will reroot to ground. We shake as much soil off the roots as possible. We are 95% buckthorn free now, with only 4yr and younger seedlings but it will another yearly CHORE! No doubt each piece off property will be need different control efforts. We are fortunate to have most heavy mature woods with less ground light that helps buckthorn take control. But the Black plastic method has been far more effective that herbicides we tried(even hi-con Glyps).

A local got goats for his 5 A, he now has half the trees he once had(many debarked by them) and zero understory of any kind - BUT no buckthorn, lol.

Garlon 4(?), which ever one is mixed with oil, will kill stump-cut treated hardwoods in the winter. The water-based version needs a fresh cut and it should be during the growing season…I think. We use the oil-mixed version and treat ash stumps throughout the winter.

Drakej - Good on you for managing your property well! It’s a lot of work but considering how unusable the land becomes once buckthorn takes over it is well worth doing.

Donnie - What forest type are you working with? If you have oak and other fire tolerant species in the over story then a combination of mechanical treatment, stump spraying and burning should put momentum on your side. If you have aspen, maple or other fire intolerant species you can do the same but not burn. I can give you more details if you’re interested.

I have primarily a oak forest but burning here would be a nightmare. Huge swamps full of dead cattails and fields full of corn. At this point I don't see a solution. Even if I cleared it it would just keep coming in from the neighbors. Best I can do is cut and treat the large females and try and allow some trees to grow past it.

Fire is only a nightmare if it gets out of control. A growing season burn is the one that will set buckthorn back and hopefully kill it, root and all. Fires that time of the year are slow and easy to control. You do have options and while the neighbors aren’t currently helping the matter, good management on your side can be the ticket to getting them on board and doing something.

My neighbors won't do anything about theirs either. It probably causes me twice the work. Maybe if I get a goat I'll let them borrow it.

I'm going to go to a goat buckthorn demo on August 24th at the Wi Cranberry Research Station. It should be interesting.

I went to a conservation event today & there was a guy there that has witnessed several goat vs buckthorn operations. He made it sound like they're popular around the Twin Cities. He said it's interesting to watch, as often times 1 goat will knock over a buckthorn plant and the others will go in a sort of 'attack' mode on that buckthorn as the other 1 pushes it down.

If I get a goat I suppose I should get 2 or 3. 1 person told me they make decent pets. I'm not sure how they would be in the winter though or how costly they are to procure or maintain.

The goat demo was interesting today

Did it seem like they were eating the buckthorn or do they just eat everything leafy they can reach?

Everything leafy, it seemed. I've been pondering getting a couple, but I feel like more research needs to be done

It kind of defeats the point of getting rid of buckthorn if everything else is eaten as well. At that point you're just losing cover

I'll be attending another goat demo on August 24th but that one will be with a different company's goats in attendance.
It'd be nice if a person could talk to a private landowner that has just a few goats and quite a bit of experience with this. With those that haul around a massive amount of goats for a business, it seems like they are big on a marketing pitch and don't want to give out too much individual advice b/c they'd rather you hire them than get your own goats

There's only certain situations when a person would want to use a goats.

They didn't seem to be bothering the bark of larger desirable trees

Maybe a couple goats would make decent pets

Maintaining the goats in the winter could be a challenge

I'm not sure how costly it would be to procure & maintain a couple goats

I have plenty they could eat on my 8 acre homestead

An electric fenced pen is what they used yesterday & what I would probably want. For a couple goats on my homestead, a small pen would probably do

They don't have problems w/ predators, but maybe that is b/c the pros have such a large herd

They didn't say anything about a need for trips to the dr (vet)

Maybe a couple calf hutches in the pen could provide them cover. Winter could be a different story

Look at all these goats

https://www.wsaw.com/video/2023/07/...oys-herd-goats-get-rid-invasive-species/

I have 10 acres of my pasture fenced in woven wire now. Planning on adding some goats to it and seeing how they perform on weed control.

I'm wondering if I can let a few goats out into the adjoining woods without fencing, hoping they'll eat buckthorn but stay near the herd.

'Might work fine but I wonder if yotes & bobcats would leave them be

Not much for cats here, yotes can be taken care of year round and it's near the house.

Thank you for the news link, AJE!