Hsu Jui-ming, owner of the Taiping Ecological Farm in Taitung’s Beinan Township, believes in being kind to the land, and eschews the use of chemical weed control methods. Removing weeds by hand, however, can be expensive and time-consuming. He therefore came up with the idea of using geese to reduce weeds.
Hsu says the Ligavon trail is quite steep in many places, which makes weeding the area more expensive than it would be on ground level. He has previously considered raising cattle, but their pointy hoofs can be bad for soil conservation, and plants often die where they have trodden. In contrast, an adult goose weighs no more than 15kg to 19kg. And geese have big webbed feet, which make them less likely to cause soil erosion. What’s more, after the geese have eaten grass, their egestion can be recycled by beetles and earthworms, thereby adding back to the land.
Hsu has bought three baby geese, and received 10 from environmentally-conscious Internet users. At present the 13 baby geese are still getting used to eating grass on the farm, but once the geese have gotten a bit bigger, and better at getting away from predators such as crested goshawks, they will be sent to the Japanese plum garden to help. And since the geese are his “employees,” he will only take their eggs and never slaughter them.
Photo: Chang Tsun-wei, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者張存薇
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY Yu-an Tu)
台東縣卑南鄉太平生態農場主人許瑞明秉持著友善土地的理想,拒絕使用化學除草劑。但人工除草成本高又費時,他於是想出利用鵝群除草的方法。
許瑞明說,利嘉林道多是坡地,除草成本比平地更高。他曾考慮養牛,但是牛的蹄尖會破壞水土保持,走過的路植物不易生長。相較之下,一隻成鵝頂多十五到十八公斤重,且因腳蹼寬大,比較不會破壞土壤表面,而鵝吃完草料的排遺,又可以給甲蟲及蚯蚓再利用,讓園內生態更豐富。
許瑞明買了三隻小鵝,其他十隻為網友認同他友善土地的理念所贊助。目前十三隻小鵝還在園區練習吃草。許瑞明說,等到小鵝稍微長大,比較能躲避鳳頭蒼鷹等掠食者攻擊,就會派到胭脂李園幫忙。此外,因為鵝是「員工」,他只會取用鵝蛋,將來絕對不會宰殺來吃。(自由時報記者張存薇)
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