"Goats On The Go" are on the go again

Posted: Thu, Aug 13, 2020 10:09 AM

When last we told you about the herd of goats which were hired to eat weeds, they were at the Luther farm. Now the goats are on the go again.

The City of Decorah hired the 40 goats to eat up plants along Dry Run Creek north of East Water Street. The goats arrived last weekend and did a great job, according to City Engineer Jeremy Bril. He says Northeast Iowa RC&D staffer Josh Dansdill suggested using the goats along the creek. "In this particular area we have some Japanese knotweed, which is an invasive species that is very difficult to eradicate," he notes.

According to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, "Knotweed colonies can grow in such dense clusters that they crowd out any other native plant life. The state of Iowa passed a law in 2013 prohibiting the import or sale of certain invasive ornamental plants, including Japanese Knotweed."

Dansdill said goats are being used as a way to manage invasive species and might be worth looking into. Says Bril, "We were very interested in trying this out as a way to minimize chemical application near a waterway. There were actually a few places around the area that had goats available for invasive species management and we decided to work with Kanyon Gansy from Goats on the Go."

The goats will likely be coming back for a second grazing sometime within the next month or two., depending on how quickly the knotweed and other invasives grow back. The City of Decorah's ultimate goal is to establish some native grasses and plantings that are low maintenance and provide streambank stabilization.

This photo, provided by the Decorah Street Department, shows what a good job the goats have done in eating the weeds