Groundskeeping by goat

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

There are ways to clear a lot of unwanted vegetation. You can chop it down or pull it out. You can treat with herbicides. Maybe you could even burn it.

Or you can send in the goats.

About 40 hungry and enthusiastic goats were released Tuesday afternoon into an area where the Charles City Dog Park is being created. They’ll be there several days, eating their way through about an acre of weeds, sapling trees and heavy brush.

“They’ll eat almost everything from about 6 feet down,” said Chad Steenhoek, one of the co-owners of Goats on the Go, of Ames.

He and co-owner Aaron Steele unloaded a large trailer full of goats into the upper area of the dog park, under the supervision of Charles City Park and Recreation Director Steve Lindaman.

“This is a good option to some other methods, including spraying,” Lindaman said.

The area is enclosed by chainlink fence in anticipation of becoming a dog park, but the goats are further restricted to a certain part of the park by a temporary electrical fence set up by the company.

Steenhoek said the goats will eat almost anything. Items that are high on humans’ problem lists — poison ivy, buckthorn, thistles, ragweed — are just a good meal to goats.

“Goats have a history of eating everything,” he said. “Really, they’ll try anything.”

He said goats will put anything in their mouths. If they don’t like it they may move on to something else.

For example, they’re not crazy about white snakeroot, he said. And they prefer weeds and brush to grass.

Steele said, “Things that have fuzzy leaves they don’t like — like velvet leaf.”

But what they don’t like isn’t necessarily the same as what they won’t eat.

How much they will chew out of the dog park area depends in part on how long they are allowed to stay there.

“It’s a question of management,” said Steenhoek. “We could turn this into a dust bowl if we left them here long enough.”

This is Goats on the Go’s small herd, and usually isn’t used this far from Ames. But they were doing some work in Clear Lake, Steele said, and decided to take this job.

A large herd with about 250 goats is available for hire for big jobs within about a three-hour radius of Ames, Steele said.

The large herd will go through about an acre a day, said Steenhoek. This small group will take about five days to finish an acre.

The brush and saplings and weeds in the dog park are good food for the goats, Steenhoek said.

“First, nothing else will eat it,” he said, “and it’s high in protein.”

Most of the goats are wethers (castrated males) and doelings (immature females), along with some kids.

“The billy goats stay at home, quarantined all summer,” Steenhoek said. “Billy goats will do almost anything” to get to nannies.

Lindaman said the lower lever of the dog park, meant for smaller dogs, has been open about a year. The upper area, which will be meant for larger dogs and which is the area currently being preened by the goats, could be open yet this fall.

“It depends on what we find after it’s cleared out,” he said. The area used to be a quarry, and in later years became something of a dumping ground.

They also want to give planted grass a chance to grow, so the area doesn’t become all mud when it rains.

The plan is to pay for the several days the goat groundskeepers will be working at the park with dog park donations, although for now the city Park and Recreation Department is covering the cost, Lindaman said.

“We need more donations” for the dog park, he said, and encouraged people to consider a contribution.

Carol Frye, a member of the dog park committee, was on hand Tuesday to watch the goats in action.

She said she had been anticipating their arrival, and was glad an environmentally healthy option had been chosen to clear the brush.

“I’m glad they’re not using chemicals or equipment,” she said.