Goat 'mowers' reduce unwanted vegetation

It was a prickly situation.

Weeds had to be removed, but using herbicides too near a water supply can be a dicey proposition because of federal regulations. Mowing weeds reduces them vertically, but they remain until collected, lying horizontally on the ground. And the weeds would become a food source for wildfires.

The answer was a four-letter word: G-O-A-T. No, not Greatest Of All Time, although they are pretty good.

The department is using ill-tempered, beard-wearing goats that can reach places ITD maintenance workers cannot. The agile, four-footed "mowers" chewed up everything in their path – in other words, a perfect crew for the job.

ITD encountered the special need near a three-acre retention pond with many noxious weeds off Eagle Road, just north of Chinden Boulevard. So, for two days in mid-May, 100 goats were placed in a fenced area to consume the weeds. The technique had been used in other parts of the state and by counties for some time, according to D-3 Maintenance Coordinator Dan Bryant.

Along with the goats from CT Biological Weed & Brush Control, a watchdog was used for overnight protection and to keep the goats from straying beyond their assigned refuge.

Bryant said the goats easily negotiated terrain that ITD mowers could not reach, are more sure-footed than people with weed trimmers, and they don’t drop weeds and seeds on the ground as they clean the area..

“This is our first year trying this,” he said, “but the results are promising.”

Connie Marshall, D-3 roadside vegetation coordinator, said the district has three other retention ponds that need similar attention.

She said the goats’ performance in the trial outing was much different than herbicide or traditional mowers from a visual standpoint.

“It just looks better. With either of the other two methods, there is always dead stuff still left out there.” She said the goats ate White Top, Scotch thistle and other noxious weeds. By the time the goats were done, the eyesore was gone.”

Work on the second goat-grazing project began Tuesday afternoon (May 28), near the Robinson Road overpass on Interstate 84. Thirty goats are being used to clean around a pond in the southwest corner of the property. When finished there, the goats will be assigned to the northeast corner of Black Cat Road and I-84, and finally to Garrity Boulevard across from the Idaho Center Auto Mall.

“We are now on ‘goat’ time, so how much and how fast they eat will determine how long they stay on the job,” Marshall explained.

Published 5-31-13