Now that Christmas is over, many folks are starting to think about taking down their trees.
There are various programs that turn those trees into wood chips or mulch, but one farm in Lebanon County is doing something a bit different.
Instead of mulching trees, Batz Farm is feeding old Christmas trees to goats.
Farm co-owner Kim Batz says not only are the trees one of the goats’ favorite treats, the tall standing home decorations are also nutritious for the animals.
"We figured out that goats love Christmas trees,” says Batz. “The pine needles are high in Vitamin C, they have high oxidants and minerals and nutrients, and they're also a natural de-wormer. It's a win-win. They love them, we can recycle them this way instead of throwing them in the trash."
Batz says that while the farm only started collecting discarded trees last year, the practice has already taken off.
"We've been here at the farm for five years,” says Batz. “We started last year asking for Christmas trees. So, I just put a post on Facebook and it went kind of crazy and was shared a whole bunch of times and we got a lot of Christmas trees."
The farm is located at 45 Bullfrog Rd. in Grantville. It has an easy-to-spot wagon and a sign for Christmas trees at the bottom of its driveway. People are asked to drop off the trees in the wagon and the Batz’ will pick the trees up from there.