Officials deploy unlikely army to protect against wildfires: 'There's a need ... all across the U.S.'

Yahoo

16-03-2025

The growth of invasive plants is a common problem in agriculture that must be managed and prevented. But instead of resorting to harmful weed killers, you can call on a herd of goats for help.
Several companies popping up across the U.S. rent out herds of goats that can be deployed in areas overrun with invasive plants. The goats eat the plants and prevent the infestations from getting worse.
Invasive plants are known to annoy home gardeners and frustrate farmers, but they can also be dangerous and lead to the spread of wildfires.
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Goats On The Go connects landowners and businesses with local goat herds for their plant problems. It works with 75 affiliate goat businesses in 25 states, according to Reasons to be Cheerful. On its website, the organization explains that herbicides are often toxic and risky to handle and can pollute local water supplies.
"Goats go where people can't, eat what most animals won't, and leave behind nothing but fertilizer," it said.
Goats are light-footed, so they won't damage landscapes, and they eat only the problem vegetation, the group said. Using goats as natural landscapers replaces the need for chemical herbicides and heavy machinery powered by dirty energy sources.
In addition to eliminating invasive species, the trained herds can fix blocked hiking paths, thin dense plant cover to reduce pests such as mosquitoes, clear areas for construction planning, control weeds on dangerous terrain, keep drainage channels open to reduce flooding, and more.
"There's a need for goats pretty much all across the U.S.," said Aaron Steele, co-founder of Goats On The Go, according to Reasons to be Cheerful.
"North America is in an uphill battle with invasive plants. One estimate places the loss of native wildlife habitat to invasive plants at 1.8 million acres per year," Goats On The Go said. "Increasingly devastating wildfires in the western U.S. are fueled by excess vegetation — often invasive plants. The scale is such that manual and mechanical removal alone is not practical."
The companies that provide and manage the goats install temporary fences to keep the herd safe in a designated area while they graze.
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