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"OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- The idea of "all-you-can eat" is a notion eight goats in Ottawa County will enjoy to the fullest this summer as year two of the county's initiative to rid parks of invasive plants gets underway.
The goats — two adult females and six that are about 10 weeks old — are currently munching on Oriental bittersweet, poison ivy, honeysuckle, autumn olive, multi-flora rose and buckthorn in Bur Oak Landing, a park off 90th Avenue in Coopersville. They will be there for about a month before moving on to the county's Riverside and Eastmanville Bayou Open Space Parks to take down invasive plants there, said Jessica VanGinhoven, Ottawa County Parks spokesperson.
Parks employees last year pioneered the idea of using goats in Michigan to attack invasive plant species. They learned they would not need as many goats this year to get the job done. Twelve goats in 2014 reduced the volume of plants in a 400-foot-long paddock at Eastmanville Bayou Open Space by 60 percent in just a few days.
The six young goats and two adult females on site this year should meet the needs, VanGinhoven said.
The goats will be surrounded by an electric fence to keep them confined and protected within wide areas in the parks.
Students with the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District's Careerline Tech Center also will help this year through a new partnership. The students, who are in an agricultural program, will manage the health and well-being of the herd, keeping track of their weight gain and loss throughout the summer, while also reducing the demands on parks staff.
The data will help staff to better understand which breeds are most most efficient in taking down the invasive plants, VanGinhoven said.
A grant through the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation also will support an intern who will take care of the goats and look out for any health or safety concerns in the herd.
Staff are waiting for a three-year trial run to finish before fully assessing how well the goats have worked out, VanGinHoven said. However, from all preliminary observations, the goats are meeting the needs on hand and the program has been well-received.
Staff are continuing to tweak the business model, learning what works and what doesn't, VanGinHoven said.
Especially challenging was finding goats available for rental at a time when there is a large market for goat meat. Two of this year's young goats are from the Kalamazoo area and four were obtained locally, VanGinHoven said.
Elsewhere in Michigan, Farmington Hills City staff welcomed a goat, "Pilot," this year as they test out the idea of eliminating invasive plants near a storm water detention basin. The goat's droppings are expected to function as a fertilizer to improve soil conditions near the basin."
Article Credit: Heidi Fenton, mlive.com
Photo Credit: Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org