Montana city deploys goats to eat weeds

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They got a lot of goats to eat weeds. The mayor said its a alternative to spraying chemicals.

But the mayor also said they're still spraying along the roads where the goats can't eat the knapweed. And she added "Next year, we'll probably need 1,000 [goats].''

What I want to know is, what other vegetation are the goats eating that would normally support part of the local ecosystem. And who gets to clean up after the 1000 goats convert knapweed to compost?

The owner I guess.

Goatpoop is great for fertilizer.

I don't see why weeds are that big of a problem.

Efficent way, I suppose. The goat gets fed at least.

It's actually a booming business. It's a good method for weeding places that have other plants that they want to keep but the goats won't eat. Goats eat star thistle and will ignore other plants. It's safe for fire risk locations, as starting a lawn mower can start a grass fire in some places. Saves on fuel as you only have to pay to transport the goats.

They call them scrub goats here.

I'm all for natural solutions to problems. Having goats eat weeds is how people years ago "mowed" the grass before the lawnmower was invented. The droppings ought to re-fertilize the ground. THis is a much better soution than spraying herbicide that not only affects the unwanted plants, but the wanted, and beneficial ones as well. It also frequently ends up washing off into rivers and streams, and affects areas several miles from it's intended location, not to mention drinking water. Not to mention goats are rather friendly, fun creatures. My cousin has some on her farm, and they are great!

My only worry is if the goats are used to keep the weeds down along highways and roads that they may wander out into the path of traffic and get injured, or cause someone to swerve and loose control of their vehicle and injure themselves.

I think goats have goatforemen of sorts. like there are goats that herd them and boss them. I could be completely dreaming this though. The pictures I have seen of weed-eating goatherds didn'thave dogs or too much human intervention.