However, popularity is not proof that the use of goats is as effective as other methods such as mowing or applying herbicides.
Goats have no problems with ticks or grass mites and will eat anything, even poison ivy, so it’s no wonder their use to control overgrowth and invasive plant species is becoming increasingly popular. Giving goats labor-intensive work while feeding them sounds like a no-brainer. Not to mention, goats make less noise than machinery, are much cuter, and don’t emit polluting diesel fumes. In fact, they fertilize the soil as they walk.
Goatscaping just makes sense, and many people are huge fans. But just because goats are all the rage doesn’t mean they’re the GOAT for land management (yes, I said that). Popularity isn’t proof that goats are as effective as other methods like mowing or herbicides. Plus, there’s little research on the practice, and there are gaps in the data.
A partnership between the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Kentucky State University aims to fill some of those gaps by studying controlled grazing of goats in Iroquois Park. “Some people tout goats as the greatest thing ever,” said Jody Thompson, senior research and extension associate at KSU. “We know that’s not true, but we also know they have their place.”
Goats spent the last two summers roaming the park’s Summit Hill, grazing in cordoned-off areas while researchers collected data through vegetation surveys and drone footage. But don’t expect to be able to walk into the park and see goats. They’re gone now. All of this was kept secret while the goats were there to protect them.
Let’s go back a moment. How did this all start?
Fieldcamp: Five million dollars were invested in Chickasaw Park. Then a tornado hit the West End.
From tennis courts to goat farming in Iroquois Park
Several years ago, as part of an effort to restore Summit Hill’s natural prairie area, Iroquois Park removed tennis courts and planted seeds. By doing so alone, the parks helped reduce stormwater runoff and prevented the basements of some of the surrounding homes from flooding.
People half-jokingly asked Liz Mortenson Winlock if she could use the goats from her own farm to tend the prairie. Winlock is the director of natural areas for the Olmsted Park Conservancy and she agreed that the idea made sense, but she didn’t know anything about grazing goats for the purpose of land management. She did know someone who did, however, and that connection led her to Kentucky State University.
As a land-grant university, one of KSU’s activities is research to help Kentuckians figure out what land management practices work best for their circumstances. Thompson said Olmsted Parks Conservancy is “the perfect partner to work with.” They have created an opportunity to test whether goats really are the best solution for sustainable land management.
To complete the collaboration, they just needed a goat farmer who knew how to graze. Luckily, Thompson knew a man. David Neville of Capstone Farms. Thompson described Neville as a “K-State champion” who “probably spends more time promoting and networking people than running his own businesses.”
Send the goats in
Neville’s first involvement with goats dates back to 2012, when he discovered that one of his goats had given birth to twins. He brought his wife to see the babies.
She said, “How can someone eat that cute face?”
But just like the livestock they owned, Neville’s goats were intended for meat production. Capstone Farms is, after all, a working farm.
“I told her we weren’t eating the face,” Neville said with a chuckle, “and she didn’t speak to me for two weeks.”
That was it. The baby goats would face a different fate. So began Neville’s experiment of using goats for grazing to minimize the use of herbicides in clearing brush and brambles on his and other properties.
For each question, Neville has a great story that illustrates his passion for solving problems for his clients, his community and his wife. “If you can solve those problems,” he said, “you can create opportunities.” Working with the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and KSU, Neville set out to solve his next problem – quantifying the benefits of using goats to care for the land.
Fieldcamp: First the tornado. Then the invasive plants. How can Cherokee Park flourish again?
The place of the goat in sustainable land management
Not all of the data has been analyzed yet, but some things are clear. Herbicides are targeted and extremely effective when applied to tree stumps. Machines and goats, on the other hand, are both indiscriminate when they dig up or graze through plants. The difference is one of opportunity.
Forestry mulchers come like a tornado and destroy everything in their path. Usually a herbicide treatment follows. It’s carte blanche destruction. Goats graze and eat foliage at a height of 60 to 180 cm, leaving bare branches. This creates more space for people to strategically eradicate what needs to go and keep the rest.
Winlock remembers crawling on her hands and knees through the woods of Cherokee Park in the early 2000s, using a handsaw to cut honeysuckle and apply herbicides in hopes of bringing more light to the forest floor and creating the right conditions for native wildflowers to bloom. Goats could also have helped her navigate the dense thickets back then. “It’s much easier to treat invasive plants when you can see and move,” she said. The goat project is applicable to many different types of terrain.
Grazing goats could reduce the use of herbicides
It is always good to keep chemicals out of our natural systems as much as possible. The fewer plants you have on site thanks to the goats, the less herbicides you will need to use as part of a land management solution.
That’s part of what KSU is trying to quantify.
Realistically, it’s not that one method is better than the other. Rather, it’s a question of, “Based on your values, based on your resources, based on your skills,” Thompson says, “which method is best for you?”
Thompson will present the project results at the Society for Ecological Restorations North American Conference in Vancouver this fall and share them with other KSU partners, but primarily the effort will benefit Kentucky landowners. The KSU Extension will offer workshops and hold public education seminars. With the data in hand, Thompson said, “we will actually be able to say with certainty where goats fit in our toolbox.”
Maybe goats aren’t the right choice for every land management situation, but since when is there a one size fits all solution? Like anything else, it’s about understanding what you need, working together to find a solution, and understanding how to move forward with an informed decision.
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is community engagement and opinion editor for the Louisville Courier Journal. You can reach her by email at [email protected].
