It’s not only humans that can develop an appetite for invaders.
Kathy Voth, founder of Livestock for Landscapes, has helped farmers control invasive weeds on their land by training cows to eat invasive multiflora rose. The cows are fed the roses, until they develop a taste for it. Says one farmer: “the cows ate all of the multiflora rose that I put in the tubs with the exception of the little bit that fell out on the ground while they were eating. My Dad has been a little skeptical of the whole process, but he was surprised when we went back to the tubs and didn’t find any plant left in there.”
Once the cows were turned loose in the fields, they started feeding on the invasive roses. (Read more about it at On Pasture.) Roses not a problem? Cows can also forage on Russian knapweed and leafy spurge.
