When the deer and the antelope graze

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July 11, 12:01 PM

by Mary Choate, Denver Gardening Examiner

 

 

Zuchini hiding

While our farm is unusual in it’s roaming cattle issue, the same principles are easily applied to any large herbivore. And, though most gardeners do not have the luxury of being able to plan ½ and 1/3 mile away, this can be applied even to small backyard gardens. Grazing animals such as deer, antelope, horses, goats, and llamas can live in harmony with a garden. Though every species has it’s own unique behaviors, they all have several traits in common: they follow routines, they travel as they graze, they are prey animals and avoid places where predators may hide, and they are opportunistic and eat what foods carry the least work and risk for the highest nutrition and pleasure.

Most of these characteristics can be easily utilized by allowing weeds to flourish in the garden. Weeds help keep the herbivores out for several reasons. They provide a screen to the veggies underneath, so that the grazing animals don’t see them (they won’t go looking for them if they have no reason to suspect they are there). They provide alternate food than that which is underneath: most herbivores will clip grasses and other weeds midway down the plant, so they can graze on the “upper canopy” of weeds and never taste that which is underneath. They provide more natural food: though everyone likes a treat, most animals prefer to sustain themselves on the native plants they are adapted to eat. They provide a hiding place for predators: real or imagined, the prey animals will not want to take the risk of being eaten.

Since grazers like to travel while they eat and follow a routine, you can encourage them to pass by your garden by providing them a “deer path.” They will follow the easiest route in their travels, and if you provide them a path that they like, they will alter their routine to use it. Have the path extend somewhat beyond each side of your garden, so that it essentially funnels the herbivores right past. If you provide a screen in front of or over your garden, especially a scary thicket of weeds wherein a predator might be hiding, the herbivores will likely hurry past and onto better grazing. If you have enough land to do so, consider growing the herbivores something nice further along the path, once they have passed the garden. A small pool with a nice patch of clover or a lush (but not too tall as to be scary) lawn will invite the herbivores to ignore your garden and move on to better grazing ahead.

However, when breaking a new field in, when there are no weeds, it is difficult to keep the cattle and other herbivores off the crops. Usually fences are employed, but many animals, and even some cows, can get through, under or over most fences, especially if they are encouraged by a good meal on the other side.

We attempted to dig trenches, put stakes in the ground and even (out of desperation) kept watch over the fields and chased cattle away. Though the last option worked, it was expensive in labor and time to the point of being unprofitable. We attempted using artificial “weeds,” sticks and debris and trash. This also failed. We attempted to devise all manner of scare crows with no effect.

Then we attempted to train the animals. The cattle were approached with the Coastalfields delivery truck. We honked the horn and banged shovels together from the truck to scare the animals and they ran away. After a week of this, they grew afraid of the truck. The truck was parked near to the field and the cattle stayed away. Occasionally, they would test the truck to see if it was still “alive,” and we renewed the treatment. Though more crops were destroyed during their tests, the damage was effectively reduced. Yet none of these tactics worked nearly as well as letting weeds protect the veggies.

Now, weeds are growing among the crops and the cattle are afraid to walk among the weeds. Our grass reserves are lush and the cattle stay away from our crops.

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