Now if they would just let those goats loose in my neighborhood, to eat up all the Japanese hollies, the Japanese honeysuckle, the Japanese maples, the vinca, the mimosa, the acuba, the English ivy, the liriope, the non-native azaleas and the non-native wisteria.

But that wouldn't leave much.

I went to college with Eric Lane, Colorado's invasive plant control goat guru, so I know the good they can do. I wish I could have a goat here, but somehow I doubt my township would accept any livestock, no matter the reason.

it's too bad your township will allow deafening-decibels-lawn-equipment and bans a relatively quiet goat. another of the absurdities of modern life.

We can't have chickens (the law says "no farm animals"). When we called town hall to ask a couple of years ago, the woman who answered the phone started laughing. Then she agreed to check it out for us.

But back to the goats--how do they know which plants are invasive and which are natives? Do you show them a picture? Seriously, how do you keep them from damaging the ecosystem even more?

Elaine, the goats are generally brought in as a last resort - they are supposed to be carefully controlled and managed (not let run free). They don't know the difference between the good and the bad plants, but their handlers do (or are supposed to). They are rotated through an area to minimize their impact on the ground. It's basically an alternative to chemically razing everything - the goats do much less damage than chemicals, or brushogging, for example.

Elaine is on target; the issue isn't one of trampling. That might actually mimic past systems. The issue is that goats will eat anything, including the remaining natives worth saving. It might make sense to introduce them where no natives exists, or when all herbaceous natives are dormant and only the invasives are still in foliage, but that's going to be a pretty rare circumstance.

It'll be an interesting experiment to read about. Maybe they'll take pictures/videos and post them on line. Keep us tuned, Susan.

You can read up on Colorado's experiment right now - here's a nice piece that touches on a lot of the issues raised above and how to target the weeds while favoring the natives.

One of the things that goats have going for them is that they are very selective browsers, not grazers, and do not denude plants if given the choice. If you time when you introduce (and remove) the goats, you can do maximum damage to your target species while minimizing damage to the natives. Obviously, no system is perfect, but I'd much rather the townships around here used goats to eat the weeds instead of indiscriminately spraying!

There's a lot of information out there - this is an idea that has been gaining ground for a long time out west, although it has been much more slow to catch hold here in the east.

Here is a link that might be useful: Get a Goat!

Where there is a serious invasive problem there may be areas devoid of even a single native plant. This is true in large areas on our property and in many, many areas I've seen, especially on our local roadsides. I can't wait until tomorrow to tell my now-asleep husband about an excuse to buy a goat. Do goats need goat companionship? Is it expensive to keep them well-maintained?
Carol

Hi All,

In areas where non-natives have run amok (i.e., the hillside behind my house that is so dense with multiflora rose, honeysuckle, tree of heaven, garlic mustard, and all manner of vines that you can't walk even 2 feet into it) there is so much damage that even if the goats ate absolutely everything it wouldn't be much loss of natives. More importantly, while the goats might denude that specific area - it would help prevent these plants from spreading to other areas not YET as seriously affected. Think of it as an ecological "fire break".

The article I read (Baltimore Sun) indicated that they had already tried using volunteers to pull problem plants and mow them down but that they were unable to make any significant reduction in their population. Hence, the goats.

These goats even eat poison ivy and multiflora rose! All I know is that if some enterprising person would start a "rent-a-goat" company I'd be first in line to become a customer. So?? any budding goat farmers out there? :)

-Helen

Goat farmers are having a hard time these days, with all kinds of restrictions placed on their production/sale of goat milk products. They should perhaps take Helen's suggestion seriously.

Don and Ruth Walker, who up until recently ran the Conway School of Landscape Design (native focus), have been advocating for goats to be used in this manner for years. I think it's a great idea. I think there are a lot of areas of the country where people haven't yet seen a forest understory absolutely blanketed by garlic mustard or barberry to the exclusion of all else, as often occurs in New England, where the forests are new, disturbed growth, plant introduction started early, and the native seed banks are largely depleted. There is definately a place for that kind of control. It would be great to pair it with a reintroduction program for native species, wouldn't it?

We bought 3 pygmy goats (1 male, 2 female) in December, so here's our experience so far. They LOVE honeysuckle, and we can't pull it down fast enough, but they don't eat the woody vines (at least ours don't). They also love a lot of other things like dogwood leaves, so like you all have noted, they don't discriminate between the desirable and undesirable. They are cute and sweet natured and easy to keep. The small size of a pygmy, even when they rear up on their hind legs doesn't allow them to munch anything but the lowest branches. That also means that they don't always pull down the honeysuckle that has grown far up into some of the trees. We have 9 acres; the goats are kept in a fenced area near the barn/workshop at one end of the property on about a half acre or so. So far they have done a great job of keeping down the weed growth on the fence line (old fence between us and the neighbors plus the new fence), plus all the undergrowth in 2-3 groves of trees. They also graze, which to my husband's delight, reduces his mowing in this area. We think the 2 females are pregnant. One neighbor already wants 2, and we plan to keep some for future breeding so we can eventually fence off some other areas for them to work on. I wish you folks in the city could have some. They are low maintenance, feed we supplement with is cheap, and they make great little pets also. And yes, Carol, you need to have at least a pair as they like to stick together. Hope this info is useful.

Organica -

Some of the invasives you mentioned are poisonous to goats, I think - like the azalea.

I heard they're using goats in Mississippi to control invasive privet.

I've considered getting goats on and off for years but was never willing to sacrifice the small native tree seedlings I've planted to their girdling the trunks by chewing on the bark, which I have heard they do.

But, I've wondered if encircling each tree with a sturdy cage of some sort of fencing might be adequate to keep the goats away from whatever you want to survive.

Has anyone tried that? I'm imagining you would have to stake the cages down into the dirt so the goats couldn't push them around?

And if you move the goat from place to place by tethering him/her, how is it best to do that? And what kind of water container do you use that they can't knock over? After 20 years the small trees I planted are big now, but the population of honeysuckle, autumn olive, poison ivy, multiflora rose, etc. has thrived even more, so I'm readier than ever to welcome goats (I think) lisa_devon

As an aside, Goats LOVE tiger lillies! Let's just say we once had a wee goat who ate like a suckling pig and ate our ENTIRE area of tiger lillies in one day. Hundreds of them, buds, everything! He was basically a nice goat other than the fact that he ate everything. He LOVED to nap with our dog.