{"id":13654,"date":"2025-07-15T15:31:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T19:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/?p=13654"},"modified":"2025-12-10T14:26:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:26:19","slug":"goats-help-save-chesapeake-bay-animals-reduce-reliance-on-herbicides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/connections\/goats-help-save-chesapeake-bay-animals-reduce-reliance-on-herbicides\/","title":{"rendered":"Goats help save Chesapeake Bay? Animals reduce reliance on herbicides"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Mary<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Mary Bowen<\/strong>, owner of Browsing Green Goats<\/a>, set a herd of goats to browse on a Somerset County property to clear unwanted vegetation around a pond near the river, it was with 15 years of experience and a partnership with UMES Extension\u2019s Dr. E. Nelson Escobar behind her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, that\u2019s right, goats are browsers, not typically grazers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen attended one of Escobar\u2019s small ruminant training sessions on artificial insemination in 2010, when they learned of their similar interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe asked me why I had so many goats, and I told him that I wanted to get into clearing using them. \u2018Why?\u2019 he said. I answered that I saw what goats can do with firebreaks in California to help prevent wildfires and wondered what I could do in Maryland and Virginia. Realizing we are surrounded by water, I researched setting the goats and sheep near waterways. I thought it could help everyone get away from using glyphosate, a chemical herbicide, near the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries,\u201d said Bowen, a self-proclaimed environmentalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Escobar, associate dean for extension and small ruminant specialist at UMES, dove in, helping the agricultural entrepreneur learn how to set fencing and what it would take to implement projects. Bowen\u2019s inquiry fortuitously coincided with a capacity building grant (USDA\/NIFA) awarded to Escobar to study the use of sheep and goats to manage unwanted vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI appreciated her interest in what we were doing,\u201d Escobar said. \u201cWe talked a couple of times about ideas and the experiences we had during the study, the culmination of which was a workshop on the subject matter. Mary took it to the next level and made it a successful business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen credits UMES Extension for her plans coming to fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"University<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for Dr. Escobar, I wouldn\u2019t have had the momentum to keep going when times got tough, especially when it was just me working the projects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen now takes on vegetation clearing projects from a half-acre up to 20 acres with her eco-friendly four-legged landscapers, as she likes to call them. In a typical year, she can complete 15-20 jobs from April to November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After supplying her clients with a \u201cgoatstimate\u201d based on size, density and time needed for clearing, she deploys the animals in places where mowers can\u2019t be used like environmentally sensitive sites and where people don\u2019t want to work, especially when it involves removing invasive plant species like poison ivy, oak and sumac, along with wisteria, kudzu and multiflora rose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her knowledge about poisonous plants in pasture has become so extensive that the relationship is reciprocal with Escobar consulting many times with Bowen on the \u201cnoxious weeds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The businesswoman doesn\u2019t take on clearing jobs smaller than a half-acre because \u201cthat\u2019s usually in someone\u2019s backyard and involves English ivy, which I don\u2019t feel is the best use for the sheep and goats,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what Dr. Escobar taught me, was that it had to be on a larger scale in order to be good stewards of the environment. That\u2019s what it\u2019s really all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen\u2019s values are evident in her catchy marketing slogans, \u201cspraying isn\u2019t cool\u201d and \u201cinvasive species control while saving the environment one goat at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou also have to be profitable,\u201d Escobar chimed in. \u201cIf you can\u2019t make a profit, it\u2019s not worth doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two collaborators are currently waiting for the opportunity to \u201cget our hands on GPS-based virtual fencing system for rotational grazing,\u201d Escobar said. \u201cUsing artificial intelligence techniques, it will greatly help in targeting specific areas for vegetation management using sheep and goats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gail Stephens, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension,<\/em> <\/em><\/a>gcstephens@umes.edu<\/em><\/a>, 410-621-3850.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, <\/em>tdudek@umes.edu<\/em><\/a>.    <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>
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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>
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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>
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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>
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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>
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Goats used to clean up brush in sensitive areas at this home near Princess Anne. (Photo by Todd Dudek, UMES Ag Communications)<\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>