This story was originally produced by the Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
For a few weeks every year, Christmas trees serve as the centerpiece of Yuletide decor in many homes. Then the ornaments and lights come down, and people are left with a dying tree shedding needles on their carpets. To most people, those leftover trees are an annoyance. But to animals, discarded evergreens are a delicious New Year’s treat.
“It’s like ice cream to the animals,” Daryl Watterson of Amazing Grace Animal Sanctuary in Sullivan said.
The sanctuary is one of many Monadnock Region farms happy to accept used Christmas trees from locals.
Amazing Grace houses goats, pigs, donkeys and other rescued animals from around the region. Most hooved animals love the taste of a conifer, according to Feed and Grain, an animal feed trade publication. Chickens enjoy it, too.
The trees provide antioxidants, vitamin C and entertainment during the long month of January when animals have less opportunity to forage. However, Watterson said trees treated with pesticides should not be fed to animals and asked that people not donate any treated trees.
A herd of goats can eat through the needles and bark of a Christmas tree in a few hours, and they’ll happily gnaw on the rest of the tree for days.
Watterson said he has to ration the trees to keep the sanctuary’s goats from eating too much too fast.
Donating a Christmas tree to a local farm helps keep trees out of landfills, where they take up space and biodegrade slowly due to low oxygen levels, according to the Sierra Club, a national environmental organization.
Millions of the approximately 25 million live trees purchased in the United States each year end up in landfills, according to the environmental group, and many others get incinerated, a waste disposal process that contributes to air pollution.
In Keene, people can drop off tinsel- and ornament-free trees at Frog Belly Farm at 173 Wyman Road or by the main barn at Cooper’s Crossroad’s Elm Farm at 149 Hurricane Road. There’s already quite a pile of trees by the barn to which locals can feel to add, according to founder Christina Major.
Elsewhere, people can give their decor-free trees to the dwarf goats at Half Acre Farm on Route 123 in Stoddard or to Gronk the pig, Willy the goat and the rest of the gang at Amazing Grace on Centre Street in Sullivan.
The pigs, goats and miniature donkeys at Nordshire Farm in Swanzey are feeling snacky, too, according to a Facebook post from the farm. Trees for them can be left beside the barn at 416 Sawyers Crossing Road.
In Surry, people can leave green, clean trees for the alpacas at Crescendo Acres Farm on Carpenter Road in the pile under the oak tree.
People can also call their local farms to check if they’re accepting trees. The goats, sheep and other critters that call these farms home are ready to feast.
Abigail Ham can be reached at 603-355 8554 or aham@keenesentinel.com.
These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
