Filed under: Park Maintenance | Tags: Eugene, Hendricks Park, Rent-a-goat
By Erik Maurer
Take a trip out to Eugene’s Hendricks Park sometime soon, and you might catch a glimpse of some interesting new members of the park’s maintenance crew. Why are they so intriguing, you ask? I’ll give you a hint: They are small, will eat just about anything, and they pack a mean kick.
Give up?
They’re goats.
That’s right, Eugene’s Parks and Open Spaces Division has employed these voracious farm animals in their new, eco-friendly strategies to combat the hordes of ivy and undergrowth that thrive in the Northwest’s fertile climate. They’re cheap, don’t require much supervision, and they free up workers who could be focusing their energy on other assignments.
Starting last summer, the nibblers have been munching away and clearing loads of pesky brush in places that aren’t easily accessible to the new bike maintenance trailers. These new, pedal-powered maintenance powerhouses are a part of the new sustainable maintenance initiative the Parks division has undertaken (check out this Register Guard article for more info on that effort). Their small size and ability to work easily on uneven ground allow them to whack weeds in places that crews would have a tough time getting to.
This creature feature isn’t just a phenomenon unique to Eugene, either. Park maintenance crews all over the country have employed this clever creature to keep their parks free from invasive plants seeking to overrun their neatly kept pathways and lawns. Parks in locations from Napa valley to urban L.A. have put the weed-munchers to work gnawing away at unsightly brush.
“They work long hours, won’t collect a pension or charge for working overtime and won’t call in sick,” praised L.A. rent-a-goat business owner George Gonzales.
The average herd of 100 goats can clear 2 1/2 acres in about 10 days. The cost for hiring workmen to do the same job would have been as high as $7,500. But the goat rental costs less than half of that, coming in at around $3,000. And it’s (practically) emission free. Check out these before and after images of a herd hard at work on a hillside.
Goat rental businesses have been popping up in cities around the nation, in response to country-wide efforts by park management to maintain their parks in a more environmentally conscious manner.
They’re cheap, eco-friendly, and always hungry. And instead of an afternoon of grueling hard work, the industrious herds see a tasty buffet in every new patch of pesky, overgrown weeds.
Munch on, kids.
Links:
Eugene’s Parks and Open Spaces Division
Park Workers Respond to Call to Use Less Fuel
Rental Goats Clear Brush Better, Beat Cosmonauts in Space Race
100 Goats are Put to Work Downtown
