Columbus employs goats at local park to help control invasive plant species

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus has hired a handful of furry, hoofed landscapers to help remove invasive plants at Antrim Park. 

Tracy Chesney operates a Columbus affiliate of Goats on the Go, a national organization that specializes in goat grazing. On Aug. 9, Chesney brought 20 of her goats, which are all around 3 years old, to Antrim Park in north Columbus. 

The goats are hard at work to remove invasive plants, such as honeysuckle shrubs and poison ivy, in a half-acre area bordered by an electric fence. Chesney said the goats are eventually supposed to graze a total of two acres, but containing them in smaller zones helps ensure they graze the whole area and do not just eat their favorite plants. 

“I always think of it as you're making sure they sit at the table and eat everything on their plate,” Chesney said. “It just helps them to focus.”

While Antrim Park visitors can see the goats, they cannot pet them. Chesney said it’s important that the little employees do not get distracted. 

“That is something that they're, I would say they're struggling with, but they're adapting to now, because they're naturally curious,” Chesney said. 

Most of Chesney’s customers want to avoid using herbicides and chemicals on their property, she said. Goats can also provide an alternative to the use of heavy equipment, which can cause erosion, especially on sloped lands.

“There's really probably a place for all the tools we have and goats are just a part of that,” she said. “They'll really eat the soft parts on trees and weeds. But other than that, just like every other livestock, they're going to eat the green stuff, and that helps to suppress the growth of the plant.”

Many invasive plants reproduce by spreading seeds, but when goats graze on these plants, they significantly hamper the ability to reproduce seeds, according to Goats on the Go. Additionally, goat manure is beneficial to soil, acting as a natural fertilizer. 

“These invasive plants do really well in poor soil where our native plants don't,” Chesley said. “So adding the fertilizer back into the ground really does, especially over repeated grazing, have a huge impact.”

A few of Chesney’s goats also briefly visited Antrim Park in April to help her and the park prepare to launch the pilot program. This project marks the first time the city’s recreation and parks department has used goats at a park to tackle invasive plants, according to the agency's Communications and Marketing Manager Stephanie Garling. 

Garling said the goats’ services cost $4,100, which she called “much more cost-effective than other options.” A lot of the price tag comes from building the fence and Goats on the Go workers continuously monitoring the animals, according to Chesney.

Chesney’s team checks on the goats one to two times a day to ensure their health and safety. Park staff and local police also monitor the animals periodically during the day and night. 

How long the goats will stay at Antrim Park will depend on how much time it takes them to graze the area. Chesney estimated it will take the goats a total of three weeks to complete the job.

Goats on the Go is an Iowa-based company with about 65 affiliates across the country. Chesney said there are two other branches in central Ohio, amounting to a total of three affiliates in the state.