Personally, having kept goats and being extremely fond of them I would
never include them in a permaculture system. I have never found a way of
controlling all the goats all the time and their favourite food is fruit
trees of every kind and condition. So we no longer have goats. I think a
few chickens and ducks are worth their weight in gold as pest controls in a
permaculture set up. In a garden I would keep the ducks but abandon the
chickens (so why are there bantams all over the garden - ask my children)
Ducks are great slug controllers, do little harm to the plants, chickens
take out vast quantities of insects, though these include the beneficials
as well as pests, but also scratch where you don't want them to which
causes headaches for the microherd trying to break down mulch, and they
will eat the veggies in no seconds flat.
Actually I would be very careful of pigs in a permaculture setup as well -
they dig
kathryn
