Land care just got a little livelier in Washington County.
A herd of 20 goats is grazing on invasive plants at Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park for a week or two, kicking off the county’s efforts to use a nonchemical approach to a buckthorn infestation.
The practice isn’t new to the east metro. In 2013, goats were brought in to eat buckthorn at Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount. In 2014, they chomped on goldenrod at Pilot Knob Hill, a historic site in Mendota Heights.
“The nice thing about goats is that we don’t have to worry about rain, weather conditions, wind and all that type of stuff,” said Dan MacSwain, the county’s natural resource coordinator.
Jake Langeslag owns Goat Dispatch in Faribault, Minn., which is supplying the goats.
He started his company four and a half years ago with six goats grazing his 10-acre property.
“I was just shocked at how well they ate (the plants),” he said. Langeslag has since upgraded from six goats to 160, tackling 20 to 50 projects a year.
Langeslag, along with herd manager Jarett Spitzack, released the goats on the north end of the park Monday afternoon, audio-recording roll call as each stepped through the fence.
“Oct. 24, 2016,” Spitzack yelled. “First one’s Puppy. Next one’s Bear.” He called off each one by name or, more often, tag number, and let them waltz toward the buckthorn.
The goats work as a team to lower branches and strip the plant’s leaves, which will reduce the strength of the plant and eventually kill it. After filling up, the animals congregate in the sun to digest and rehydrate before getting back to work.
“There’s something about buckthorn that they just instinctively eat this, but it’s good for us because we try to get rid of it,” Langeslag said, adding that the plants don’t bother the goats’ digestive system.
The goats eat 3 percent to 5 percent of their body weight daily. A larger goat might weight 100 pounds so will consume three to five pounds in plants.
If county parks officials see an improvement in the ravine’s buckthorn infestation, they might consider using the service long-term. Keeping a goat herd of their own or inviting community farmers to bring in their own grazing animals are other options, MacSwain said.
The grazing space is about 2 miles north of the park’s picnic shelter and is enclosed by a solar-powered, low-voltage electric fence and a nonelectric fence.
Visitors are invited to check out the furry mowers, but petting is off-limits.
Buckthorn, a tree-like shrub that can reach 25 feet, sprouts its leaves earlier in the spring than native plants and sheds them later in the fall, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, giving it a competitive advantage against native plants for light and water.
Cottage Grove’s buckthorn grazing could help enhance the park’s native ground cover, which has declined in the past 30 years.
The county also will continue to use hand tools and some chemicals in the buckthorn fight, MacSwain said.