Goats have been domesticated for thousands of years. Their meat is the most popular and nutritious animal worldwide. They are kept for meat, milk, and fiber. Governments and communities have also used goats to clear invasive undergrowth. Whatever it’s called — “prescribed grazing,” “directed grazing,” “goat leasing,” or “goat pasture” — the practice has been around for decades.

They were used in the White House during World War I. They have been used to prevent fires in the hills of California. More recently, the cities of Bellville, Ann Arbor and Frankenmuth have used goats to remove unwanted vegetation such as poison ivy, English ivy, weeds and other invasive plant species from their communities. Gibraltar is the next local community to try this landscaping method.

Dorothy Wood, council member and liaison for the city’s Beautification Committee, approached her fellow council members with this idea.

“I heard about this practice years ago. Parks and New York City use goats,” she said.

So why couldn’t these cute, agile, hoofed creatures be used to clear the land around the Talbert Community Center of hard-to-kill or remove plants? They can climb and reach places that equipment and human hands can’t. Using goats wouldn’t just save the community money, Wood thought, “they would be something new and unique to our town, and they would be environmentally friendly.”

For $850, Gibraltar rents five goats from Twin Willow Ranch in Milan. The ranch has been raising goats for more than 20 years and renting them out for brush clearing for about 14 years, Mike Mourer explains.

The goats arrived on Sunday, August 11, but their grazing area is still being fenced off. The goats need to be protected.

“To keep the goats in and the predators out, we use a portable electric fence,” Mourer said. “It’s powered by a battery and charger that produces a pulse similar to an invisible fence used for dogs. Our fence is a 10-strand horizontal fence with vertical supports and had step-in posts to support it.”

Once set up, the goats graze for a week, filling their bellies with all the invasive plants and weeds they can control. According to Mourer, a single goat can eat up to four pounds of vegetation per day. Goats are similar to cows. They are ruminants, meaning that once they are full, they lie down and chew their cud, which is digested by the four chambers in their stomach, allowing them to absorb all the nutrients possible.

Wood admitted that some people might find the idea of ​​letting goats eat weeds strange, but she’s willing to give it a try, especially if it works.

“We thought we’d give it a try and see how it goes. We’ll start somewhere small so people can come and check it out. There are other places we can use them if this works,” she said.

Wood hopes that if this catches on, the city can do more to get people to see the goats next year.

Mourer pointed out that goats provide more entertainment than people clearing brush.

“They are safer and more fun to watch. Some areas are less dangerous for goats than for people,” she said.

Originally published: August 15, 2024 at 11:13 am