Goats grazing on invasive weeds. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Goats grazing on invasive weeds in Lethbridge parks

Jun 26, 2019 | 2:23 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Following a succesful pilot project in the city last fall, Robert Finck of Magrath and his enterprise Creekside Goat Company have been deployed to tackle invasive weeds.

He allowed members of the media to see how they operate in the Alexander Wilderness Park on the northern end of the coulees.

His 500 goats will live a simple life in enclosed areas, eating any leafy spurge, wormwood, thistle, crested wheat grass, and brome grasses that are not native to the area.

Finck believes leafy spurge in particular has become a problem in recent years.

“This bunch of goats, this is their first day on spurge, so they’re trying it, they’re going and it’ll take two or three days to find out how much they really like it. We have 300 in the park right now that have been on it for about three weeks and they search it and love it. It has a milky substance. so it burns the mouths of a lot of different animals, but the goats, they thrive on it.”

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: January 6-12, 2025

Jan 07, 2025

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: December 30 - January 5, 2025

Dec 30, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: December 16-22, 2024

Dec 17, 2024

Leafy spurge. (Lethbridge News Now)

Finck’s group will have to work alongside the City of Lethbridge to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Parks and Natural Resources Coordinator Jackie Cardinal says they wanted to employ goats for this work over traditional pesticide treatments.

“They can get to the areas that we can’t get to with people with backpacks, sprayers, or machinery to spray, and it’s just more environmentally-friendly, so even if the cost difference wasn’t huge, it’s friendlier to the environment. This is a nature reserve, so we really want to use as little chemicals [as possible].”

Goats At Work sign. (Lethbridge News Now)

The goat grazing project will take place over six-to-eight weeks this summer both in Alexander Wilderness Park, and later, Indian Battle Park.

Cardinal says the biggest challenge for the latter area is that a lot of people frequent Indian Battle Park, many of whom will be walking their dogs.

“If you’re in Indian Battle, keep your dogs on a leash – it’s a rule anyways, but it’s really really important to have your dog on a leash near the animals. They can spook the animals really easily.”

“Dogs are not allowed in Alexander Wilderness because it is a nature reserve, so we just really ask that people be respectful of that,” Cardinal adds.

More details on this project on the City of Lethbridge’s website.