OPINION:
It’s a clever idea to have goats eat Christmas trees (“Farmers say Christmas trees make great goat snacks,” Web, Dec. 27). It certainly cuts down on the landfill space that would otherwise be needed to get rid of the trees.
But the statement that the trees “have vitamin C” and are thus good for the goats is misleading. Goats do not need to eat trees in order to get vitamin C. They make their own vitamin C in their livers, as do most other animals on Earth. Only humans, the primates and guinea pigs, plus one species of bat, do not manufacture their own vitamin C.
We get our vitamin C from the food or supplements we eat. If we don’t get enough, we get scurvy. If we don’t get any, we die.
HERB TIEDE
Triangle, Virginia
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