The homeowners of an animal rescue farm near Mount Airy have discovered an creative method to save cash on goat meals and repurpose undesirable Christmas trees: Feed the trees to the goats.Missy and David Saul launched Farm Sweet Farm in 2019, one 12 months after the couple moved from Severna Park to their 3-acre plot in 2018.The farm began with a single pig named Wilbur, then slowly expanded after taking in two goats, named Hobbes and Shaw. Farm Sweet Farm is now residence to 18 goats, two sheep and two pigs that the Sauls have rescued from numerous farms and homeowners.”Some of the youthful [goats] are undoubtedly COVID-related,” Missy Saul mentioned, “the place folks obtained cute little goats as a result of they had been residence on a regular basis after which once they return to work, they do not have time for them.”Farm Sweet Farm is a registered nonprofit, Saul mentioned. Because the Sauls pay for most of its operation out of their very own pockets, the donation of Christmas trees helps scale back the price of hay to feed the goats via the winter months.”The trees are nice as a result of they undergo quite a bit much less hay once they have further stuff,” Saul mentioned. “And hay, similar to the whole lot else in our nation proper now, is getting costly.”Saul mentioned she found that Christmas trees, which embrace totally different species of firs, pines and spruces, had been a viable meals supply for goats from farmer boards and consulting with their veterinarian.Thus far, the Sauls have obtained trees from a Frederick nursery and others from local people members.Christmas tree donations are only one facet of Farm Sweet Farm’s interplay with neighborhood members in Frederick and Carroll counties. Missy Saul mentioned they’ve scheduled time for guests to return to the farm and meet their animals and have taken the farm’s goats to numerous native fundraisers.One fundraiser included a Harry Potter-themed occasion at Dragon Distillery in Frederick, the place Saul dressed up their pig and three goats in appropriately themed scarves.Saul mentioned they began the farm as a result of each she and her husband have distant jobs in communications and love animals and the outside.”I’m truly extra of a guide labor sort of individual,” David Saul mentioned, “however my physique cannot do guide labor for work. This fulfills it for me.”When the couple launched the farm, they had been initially eager about working a horse rescue. After noticing that there was already an abundance of horse farms within the space, they determined to pivot and assist smaller animals, Missy Saul mentioned.”It brings me quite a lot of pleasure,” Missy Saul mentioned, “particularly with those that are available in dangerous form and also you see them blossom into pleased little goats.”Farm Sweet Farm is at 2415 McHenry Drive, north of Mount Airy. Saul encourages folks to drop off their trees subsequent to their driveway on the grass, stripped of decorations.Frederick residents can even drop off Christmas trees at 4 areas across the metropolis via Jan. 31:the decrease car parking zone of Harry Grove StadiumYard 2 of Husky Park on Highland Streetthe Tasker’s Chance car parking zone on Key Parkway behind Westridge Shopping Centerthe Max Kehne car parking zone on West seventh Street.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiwgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5mcmVkZXJpY2tuZXdzcG9zdC5jb20vbmV3cy9lY29ub215X2FuZF9idXNpbmVzcy9hZ3JpY3VsdHVyZS9hbmltYWwtcmVzY3VlLWZhcm0tbmVhci1tb3VudC1haXJ5LWZpbmRzLW5ldy11c2UtZm9yLW9sZC1jaHJpc3RtYXMtdHJlZXMvYXJ0aWNsZV82YjZlM2ViMy01ODYxLTU4MjAtOTkxYS0wMzNkMzg4ODhiMGYuaHRtbNIBAA?oc=5
