IBERIA, Ohio – Goats eat just about anything. What about Christmas trees? We learned that Christmas trees are part of a goat’s vast cuisine after reading Pam Striker’s post on GalionLive’s Facebook page. It piqued our curiosity.
Striker’s message read: “If anyone is looking to get rid of their live X-mas trees (Galion), we would love to get 2 of them for our goats. They can not have any tinsel or the like on them, or been sprayed with paint, etc……just need the good old fashion pine tree! Thank you and you can private message me…… Merry Christmas!”
Curious, we reached out to Striker to learn why she wanted trees for goats and to see if we could pay her a visit. It turns out the pine needles are actually good for the goats’ digestion, according to Striker.
“The pine needles have vitamin C in them. And they also detox their systems,” said Striker.
Striker and her husband live in Iberia, just outside of Galion. They own their own sandblasting business and have always enjoyed keeping goats. Pam Striker calls them her friends. And when others ask the couple if they have kids, they say, well, yes.
When they first adopted goats into their family, they had 12. So they would reply yes to the question and facetiously add, “we have 12 kids.” Goat puns … gotta love ’em.
“We don’t have two-legged ones (children), only four-legged ones,” said Pam Striker.
They don’t have 12 goats anymore. Two years ago they decided to adopt four Nigerian goats after owning others off and on for a few years. Pam and her husband Cliff named their new family members Rhythm, Moose, Jasper and Jack. Then Pam Striker learned her goats might like to eat Christmas trees.
“I read an article one day and found out the pine needles are actually good for them. So we tried it out,” she said.
She said they have three trees out in the goat’s yard now, but two more are coming over the weekend.
“We’ll keep them out there until April, or the first mow. And they’ll be bare, just like skeletons,” she said.
Pam and Cliff Striker don’t like referring to the goats as animals. Pam Striker said that puts them at a lower level than humans, she prefers to level their status because she believes the goats can teach us something.
“People want to call them pets, but we call them our friends. They just need to be kind of more elevated because people want to put them down lower. No, they’re on the same level, we can learn from them a lot,” she said.
Pam Striker said her four friends have taught her to go with the flow and to play.
“They make me laugh. I mean to be around goats and not laugh, well … you have a serious problem,” she said with a laugh.
The Strikers are not accepting anymore Christmas trees this year. If you’re wondering what to do with your Christmas tree next year, however, consider feeding it to a goat.
