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Parma farm wants your Christmas tree for goat food

Posted at 5:53 PM, Dec 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-27 17:54:27-05

As a farm run by volunteers, Stearns Homestead in Parma is always looking for donations - and the thing they're most looking for is probably something you're looking to get rid of right about now.

"The goats and sheep are going to get a little treat this year," said Anita Cook, as she tossed a tree over the fence.

They want your old Christmas trees so their goats and sheep can have a little snack - that's right, they eat them.

"Oh the animals love it, oh my goodness are you kidding?" said Cook.

Cook is a volunteer at the farm, and she says the trees are packed with vitamins and nutrients.

"I happened to see it on Facebook," she said. "Believe it or not that there was another goat herder that gave her goats and sheep pine trees after Christmas and I decided we should try it and it worked."

The animals will eat the entire tree, so cook says make sure you clean it off before you drop it off.

"No tinsel, no lights, tinsel is the most important and someone actually told me that you can actually take one of the hand vacuums and it gets pretty much all of it off which is great," said Cook. "No painted trees, a lot of times you will go to a tree lot and they'll spray it green, that's not good for the goats either."

The city has agreed to mulch whatever trees the farm can't use.