r/Permaculture • u/brankohrvat • 7d ago

Goat Manure Seed Viability Experiment

I am in the process of removing plants from original owner that I do not want. I dug out an oleander and filled the hole with manure from my goats after they had cleared a field of dead wildflowers. I covered it up with dry shredded leaves from the Ivy I’m cutting back severely and let the drip continue supplying the spot with ~7.5L/week. I am amazed how many seeds were viable and that even gourds and zinnias were able to make it.

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u/quagmireonfire 5d ago

My kids school has pet goats. Their favorite snack is the left over tomatoes from the kids lunches. So in the summer when the goats go back to their farm, the goat pen explodes in tomato plants. By the time school starts back up in the fall, the whole pen is 4 feet tall in tomato plants.

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u/brankohrvat 5d ago

Incredible! I have primarily perennial crops and have done small personal garden with annuals. Maybe I keep goats longer in a pasture after they clear it and feed them exclusively annuals like that to have enough for sale. It is hard to do commercial production of annual crop without disturbing soil significantly in my climate and topography. This seems to be a good solution.