Bella Vista hired eight goats last week to devour brush on tricky terrain near the old stump dump off Bethnal Road, alongside the Taylor Homestead trail.
Kay Curry, trail coordinator with the city's Community Development Services Department, said she's been researching goats for a while, because she's always interested in bringing sustainable practices to the city.
This particular project is something of a trial run, she said.
"We feel that if this works, we might have several applications for it in the future," she said.
Moreover, she said, it's effective. After six grazing periods in a given space, invasive plant life, like the poison ivy in this particular stretch, will often die off.
Another benefit, she said, is the cost. The bill for this project, which is projected to have goats out working for 10 days, is roughly $1,300.
Human workers, she said, would likely cost far more, especially considering they'd need to navigate the poison ivy and deal with difficult terrain. It's also likely, she said, they'd have to pay to use a bulldozer on the patch of land the Greedy Goats are more than happy to munch on.
Jason Estes is goat keeper and part-owner of Greedy Goats, the company that rents them out. The other part-owner is his wife, Connie Riper-Estes. Their farm is in Fayetteville.
They've been doing this for three years, Jason Estes said, and this is the most challenging job they've taken on because of the commute from Fayetteville.
He said his team of goats can clear 800 to 1,000 square feet of brush in a typical day, spread across about six hours of grazing. They typically work for two hours, he said, consuming their favorite vegetation before resting for half an hour and then coming back for their second-favorites -- until everything is gone.
"It's always dessert first for goats," he said.
Estes said it's worth noting that while humans may not like the idea of chowing down on poison ivy, it's a nonissue for goats, which are not allergic to it at all. The goats like every part of the plant, he said, and will even eat some of the root, often killing the plant in the process.
There aren't many plants that are hazardous to goats, he said, but those that are generally are colorful, decorative plants. Part of setting up for a job is checking the work site for anything that might be hazardous to his goats, he said.
Then the area gets fenced off. Estes said he uses an electric fence partly to create a sense of competition for food amongst the animals, but primarily to keep potential predators, including people's dogs, away from his goats.
In addition to the fence, he said, he keeps his goats safe by driving them home every night. They are never left on site overnight.
The goats, he said, could easily jump out of the fence if they want to, and wouldn't even need a running start to do it. But they've learned that inside the fence is food, and outside there isn't an abundance of eats.
Getting goats to behave, he said, is all in this same vein -- convincing them that what someone wants of them is also what they want to do.
"A goat will stand its ground," he said. "If I want to make it go somewhere, I have to make it think it's its idea. You don't chase goats, you bribe them."
Herding goats, he said, means becoming somewhat a part of the herd.
And while they are herd animals, he said, they've also got very strong personalities. His goats tend to be either friendly or skittish, but not aggressive, because they were mostly hand-raised. The males are often fixed.
Some of them, he said, are rescue goats as well, and several are mixed breeds. The mutt goats, he said, tend to be healthier and work far more effectively as grazers.
Despite being hard-headed, he said, the goats can make excellent outdoor pets. Moreover, several members of his own herd are social enough that he's brought them out for parties and events -- though he's always present for the safety of human and animal alike.
For Estes, at least, they're easy animals to get along with.
"You really have to have a sense of humor with these animals," he said. "Stubborn animals are OK with me. I see where they're coming from."
General News on 11/09/2016