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Goats take over wild areas around campus
July 27, 2007
No one can claim that Craig Madsen’s crew isn’t enthusiastic about their work around the University Center.
Sure, they may lay down on the job once in awhile or butt each other in the head. But as of Wednesday, university facilities officials were so pleased with Madsen’s ground clearing crew that they were contemplating whether or not to have him back next spring.
Madsen, owner of the Eastern-Washington based Healing Hooves, released 270 goats, mostly does and kids, on five acres that surrounds the building to clear away the blackberry brambles, tansy and alder seedlings that have choked off the area. Eventually, university officials might groom the area into an on-campus park or natural area, said David Kohler, director of facilities management.
For now though, Kohler’s just glad the goats are making short work of the brambles. Within a half hour of releasing the goats from a trailer, parked off Park Avenue South, a long-forgotten fence revealed itself. Trash – no goats don’t eat tin cans – from Coke bottles to old tire irons, appeared from the underbrush.
Sara Paz, grounds maintenance manager, said that while goats won’t eat the blackberry vines, stripping away all the foliage means she can surgically remove the goats’ rejects with heavy machinery later. Looking up the steep hillside Wednesday, where 200 plus goats were largely swallowed by the brambles, Paz said she plans to attach blades to a tractor and cut away the undergrowth around the large native white oaks that once populated the prairies around Spanaway.
Paz and Kohler hope that clearing way the invasive Himalayan Blackberries – native to Europe, not the Northwest – will allow more local species to take hold again, such as salal and Oregon grape, which the goats won’t eat.
“I saw one of the goats chew up a strand of morning glory and then take its horns and dig up the roots and eat those as well,” Paz said Wednesday, watching a group of does and their kids either nap on the ground or resolutely chew up the nearest bush. “I need something like that in my yard.”
Madsen began his business, based in Eastern Washington, six years ago after hearing of a similar venture that was thriving in California. After attending a workshop, he decided to quit his job as a range management specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and started putting out his goats – Boer and Spanish breeds - for hire. Madsen admitted he garnered some amazed looks when he first started up.
But now he’s often booked from May to fall. So far this year he’s cleared brush for Seattle City Light and around the blueberry farm in Tacoma. The goats usually make quick work of the brambles, as they eat between six to eight pounds of food daily.
Having goats take the first whack at clearing the land has environmental benefits: They create less wear and tear on the soil and native vegetation, they usually cost less than hiring a crew to work heavy machinery and their droppings fertilize as they go. Paz and Kohler estimated that the cost to hire Madsen, at about $5,000 for this job, was a quarter or less of what it would cost to clear the bush in a more traditional method.
It doesn’t hurt that the workers are cute. Students and residents stopped by the fence this week to take pictures with cell phones or capture the bleats emanating from the bushes to prove to their friends there were really ruminants on campus. Madsen said the job should be completed by Monday or Tuesday.
Kohler is already planning out where to put the goats next.
“Maybe the area near Foss Field,” he mused. “We’ll probably find all the softballs and Frisbees that have disappeared in the bushes over the years.”
Madsen, owner of the Eastern-Washington based Healing Hooves, released 270 goats, mostly does and kids, on five acres that surrounds the building to clear away the blackberry brambles, tansy and alder seedlings that have choked off the area. Eventually, university officials might groom the area into an on-campus park or natural area, said David Kohler, director of facilities management.
For now though, Kohler’s just glad the goats are making short work of the brambles. Within a half hour of releasing the goats from a trailer, parked off Park Avenue South, a long-forgotten fence revealed itself. Trash – no goats don’t eat tin cans – from Coke bottles to old tire irons, appeared from the underbrush.
Sara Paz, grounds maintenance manager, said that while goats won’t eat the blackberry vines, stripping away all the foliage means she can surgically remove the goats’ rejects with heavy machinery later. Looking up the steep hillside Wednesday, where 200 plus goats were largely swallowed by the brambles, Paz said she plans to attach blades to a tractor and cut away the undergrowth around the large native white oaks that once populated the prairies around Spanaway.
Paz and Kohler hope that clearing way the invasive Himalayan Blackberries – native to Europe, not the Northwest – will allow more local species to take hold again, such as salal and Oregon grape, which the goats won’t eat.
“I saw one of the goats chew up a strand of morning glory and then take its horns and dig up the roots and eat those as well,” Paz said Wednesday, watching a group of does and their kids either nap on the ground or resolutely chew up the nearest bush. “I need something like that in my yard.”
Madsen began his business, based in Eastern Washington, six years ago after hearing of a similar venture that was thriving in California. After attending a workshop, he decided to quit his job as a range management specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and started putting out his goats – Boer and Spanish breeds - for hire. Madsen admitted he garnered some amazed looks when he first started up.
But now he’s often booked from May to fall. So far this year he’s cleared brush for Seattle City Light and around the blueberry farm in Tacoma. The goats usually make quick work of the brambles, as they eat between six to eight pounds of food daily.
Having goats take the first whack at clearing the land has environmental benefits: They create less wear and tear on the soil and native vegetation, they usually cost less than hiring a crew to work heavy machinery and their droppings fertilize as they go. Paz and Kohler estimated that the cost to hire Madsen, at about $5,000 for this job, was a quarter or less of what it would cost to clear the bush in a more traditional method.
It doesn’t hurt that the workers are cute. Students and residents stopped by the fence this week to take pictures with cell phones or capture the bleats emanating from the bushes to prove to their friends there were really ruminants on campus. Madsen said the job should be completed by Monday or Tuesday.
Kohler is already planning out where to put the goats next.
“Maybe the area near Foss Field,” he mused. “We’ll probably find all the softballs and Frisbees that have disappeared in the bushes over the years.”