Can Goats Save The Bay?

Goat with GPS tracker

Probably not, but they can be used to clean up some tangled messes, DCist,  Goats Wearing Solar-Powered GPS Collars Are Helping Clean Up The Chesapeake Bay

What do goats, satellites, and tiny solar panels have to do with Chesapeake Bay water quality?

Potentially a lot: agriculture is the biggest single source of pollution flowing into the bay. Farms pollute not only the estuary itself, but also its tributaries, including the Potomac River and the Anacostia River. But agriculture can also help make the water cleaner.

One farm in Northern Virginia is testing out solar-powered GPS collars to manage livestock in an environmentally sustainable way. Molly and Sam Kroiz run George’s Mill Farm on about 90 acres in Loudoun County. It’s a seasonal farmstead goat dairy that produces cheese, gelato, caramel, soap and fudge from goat milk.

The land has been in Sam’s family since the 1750s. Plenty about the farm harkens back to an earlier era, like the 19th century stone barn. But they’re also embracing technology. The farm is part of a pilot program with a Norwegian company called Nofence. Until now, the company’s GPS collars were only available in Europe.

“I just kept sending them e-mails being like, ‘When are you coming to the U.S.?'” says Molly Kroiz. “Like once a year I’d be like, ‘How about now? How about now?'”

The Kroizes got the collars in April. There are 43 farms in the U.S. currently in the pilot program, and the company aims to expand to more farms next year. In Europe, there are some 60,000 Nofence collars currently in use, according to the company.

Livestock can be terrible for the environment – manure pollutes waterways with bacteria and also nutrients that cause algae blooms. But livestock can also be great for the environment – enriching soil, encouraging plant growth, and even making the water cleaner. It all depends on how the animals are managed.

The Kroizes say the GPS collars help them farm in a way that’s environmentally responsible – a practice called rotational grazing – moving the goats from place to place on the farm.

“We’re big on the environment, we love the environment,” says Sam Kroiz. “But to be honest, a lot of the things we do that are environmentally friendly on the farm, we do it’s because we’re also very cheap and it’s cost effective.”

“It’s cost effective and it’s better for the animals and therefore better for our products as well,” Molly adds.

Rotational grazing makes for healthier animals, as they’re less likely to pick up parasites from their own poop. The practice can even make food taste better: Kroiz says their animals’ varied diet gives the goat cheese more interesting and complex flavors.

But do the goats taste better?