Hamilton residents turn to goats to tackle invasive plant species

Homeowners in rural Hamilton who wanted to be rid of some invasive plants in their property have decided to “Goat” beyond the usual methods.

They’re turning to the greatest-of-all-time, — goats to take care of the growth of buckthorn –an invasive plant species that many residents say they want out of their property.

These four-legged friends are part of an eco-herd.

York region-based company ‘Goats in the City’ said president Ian Matthews. “Today 50 of them will be here for at least two days to help clear the problem.”

Matthews said bringing the goats this late in the year to chow down the invasive plant while they are still green is the perfect time.

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“The reason why we choose this time is because of all the native plants that we don’t want the goats to attack,” he said. “Their leaves are gone so the goats will tend to eat none of those and go for the buckthorn which we want them to focus on.”

Homeowner Natalie Feisthauer says seeing these bearded browsers eating away the glossy buckthorn infestation on their property is something she and her husband Gerald Tetreault have been planning for years.

“Just to have the goats be able to do this work that would take us months to do is really exciting,” she said.

“We have been working on this for at least 10 years on our own. So it’s very extraordinarily labour-intensive,”Feisthauer said. “So we cleared one area that the goats are back in — just by hand we hold it out and that took days.”

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Some homeowners say having the goats do the job is a decision they made in consultation with the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

Feisthauer said pulling these shrubs of finely toothed leaves with thorns by hand when you have acres of land was no longer an option.

“They’re a lot faster at it and they can get all the little guys,” Feisthauer said.

This method, experts say, is a better option than using harmful herbicides or heavy machinery which will harm the natural ecosystem and characteristic of the area.

Cherish Gamble, Stewardship Technician with Hamilton Watershed Stewardship Program says goats are an ecofriendly alternative.

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“Essentially, it’s a spot where surface water actually helps to refill and recharge our groundwater,” she said.  “So we wanted to use really eco-friendly methods here and so the goats were a great alternative to some of our traditional control methods.”

These horned explorers’ goat scaping ability will be on full display for the next couple of days, chomping down on pesky buckthorn shrubs at a rate of approximately one acre every day.

Anyone looking to bring goats in to help get rid of invasive species in their property may consult with the Hamilton conservation authority.