Goats have proven to be a big ally for the City of Lethbridge, as they are used to chew out invasive species in the river valley. Monday, August 29, 2022 was the last day of a seasonal goat grazing program in Lethbridge. (Photo: D. Stremick-LNN)

By Justin Goulet with files from Drew Stremick

Goat grazing done for the season in Lethbridge

Aug 30, 2022 | 10:39 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Over the past few years, the City of Lethbridge has enlisted one of its most trusted allies to combat invasive weeds in the river valley, and that ally is goats.

Goats are brought in twice per summer to graze and spend time between Alexander Wilderness Park and Indian Battle Park. Invasive species like leafy spurge, wormwood and thistle act as food for the goats. Monday, August 29, 2022 marked the last day of the season for the goats to graze this year.

Goats seen grazing in the river valley in Lethbridge on Monday, August 29, 2022. (Photo: D. Stremick-LNN)

Jackie Cardinal, Parks Natural Resources Coordinator with the City of Lethbridge explained that the program was first tried out as a pilot project in the fall of 2018 before being fully implemented in 2019.

Cardinal remarked that the goats “have taken to spurge really well”, however, there is one invasive species that is not necessarily appealing to all of the goats the City of Lethbridge has enlisted for help.

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“They search it [spurge] out, they want to eat it. The wormwood is just not as palatable so whenever we can get a group that really likes it, that’s great and they’ll teach the others that, ‘hey, this is something that we need to chew on and get rid of’.”

Goats are brought in twice per summer to graze and spend time between Alexander Wilderness Park and Indian Battle Park in Lethbridge, August 29, 2022. (Photo: D. Stremick-LNN)

Cardinal said the City of Lethbridge holds seven to eight weeks of grazing throughout the summer, with the campaign started at Indian Battle Park this year.

She explained, “We just kind of pick the park in the spring where the spurge is coming up first.”

“So, we’re out [in the] middle of May until the middle of June just seeing how the plants are coming up and, kind of, whoever starts flowering first, that’s the park we pick to go to first.”

CREEKSIDE GOAT COMPANY

Robert Fink is the co-owner of Creekside Goat Company. The business provides the grazing goats for the City of Lethbridge. Fink said on Monday that there was about 200 goats on hand for the river valley.

He added, “We have different groups that we travel around Alberta [with] and we have a lot of different jobs, mostly with the cities.” The goats are also utilized on private lands.

“We’re on the road from the middle of May, [and] we have contracts through November.”

The goats are provided by Creekside Goat Company, August 29, 2022. (Photo: D. Stremick-LNN)

Fink said that there are many companies across both Canada and the United States that do this kind of work, and noted that in California, goats are used quite a bit for fire prevention measures.

He said in addition to Lethbridge, the company offers services in Medicine Hat, Calgary and Red Deer, as well as on the Blood Tribe and for individual ranches.

Fink explained that there is always a herder with the goats on-site to keep watch of the animals.

“We supply the water, the tanks, the fences, the goats, the dogs. When we come into a job, we supply everything,” he said, noting this provides hands-free maintenance for whoever employs his team.

He added that guard dogs are also used mainly in more open spaces outside of cities. Their job is to help protect the goats used for grazing. Fink said, “In the cities, we don’t use guard dogs as much because we have so many run-ins with people and their own dogs.”

Dogs that serve as guards are Great Pyrenees and Border Collies.

“Without the border collies, we couldn’t do our job,” Fink commented.

He explained that to train the goats, team members will look for the thickest patch of an invasive species and hold the goat on it until they nibble on it and eventually, eat it willingly.

The goat grazing program started as a pilot initiative in Lethbridge in 2018, before being fully implemented in 2019, August 29, 2022. (Photo: D. Stremick-LNN)

Fink echoes Cardinal’s sentiments, noting the wormwood has caused some challenges in training the goats. He said, “The wormwood, we’ve been in it for three years now, trying to get them to eat wormwood and they’re finally getting a taste for it, [whereas] the spurge was a lot quicker than that, so some species are more palatable than others.”

“It’s just a process of teaching them. They don’t eat everything and you kind of train them.”

More about the goat grazing program is available at the City of Lethbridge website.

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