04
F E AT U R E
NOV. 10, 2017
G OT G OAT S ? The Iowa City community turns to alternatives for herbicides to combat environmental damage.
BY NATALIE KATZ
S
tanding on top of the Linn County landfill, 250 workers are busy clearing their way through invasive weeds and plants this fall. However, these aren’t your typical laborers, lugging heavy shears and saws—they don’t need special equipment to get the job done. All these workers need are their mouths. A new trend, targeted grazing, appearing across the country over the last few years, has come to the Iowa City Community School District. Targeted grazing is controlled goat grazing that clears unwanted vegetation with little damage to the terrain and wanted plants. Goats are replacing harmful weedkillers such as herbicides and carbon dioxide-producing machinery, which emits fossil fuels and contributes to the climate change crisis. Goats on the Go, founded in 2012, is one of the companies in Iowa that brings their goats to different locations to eat unwanted vegetation. From landfills to residential homes to schools, these goats have been almost everywhere, coming typically three times to each location. The goats first come in the spring after the plants grow leaves and return eight weeks later after the leaves regrow. The final visit occurs a year later in the spring, when they eat the plants one last time. This process is believed to get about 90% of the weeds killed, according to Chad Steenhoek, co-founder of Goats on the Go. While it doesn’t work as quickly as chemicals do, it gives back to the land in a way typical weedkillers can’t. “We’re taking land that doesn’t have any value and we’re creating food from that land, [whereas] if you just use chemicals, you get no benefits from the land,” said Steenhoek. Because the goats are domestic, they can be safely used as
“ WE ’ RE TAKI NG LAN D THAT DOESN ’T HAVE ANY VALU E AN D WE ’ RE CREATI NG FOOD F ROM THAT LAN D.” - CHAD STEEN HO EK , GOATS ON TH E GO CO - FOU N DER
meat after a satisfying life of munching on leaves and weeds. The district first heard about this trend in an advertisement on the radio. Leading up to the introduction of goats to the schools, they made sure to make the community aware through newspapers and press releases from the administrative office. “So many people are so detached from farm life and natural wildlife that we weren’t sure if it was going to upset a lot of people,” ICCSD grounds manager Ben Grimm explained. The first goats came in 2016 to repair revines and the effects of erosion and convert land into areas that people can use. That spring, the schools to receive them were Penn and Shimek Elementary Schools. In just three days, Penn’s once inaccessible land was ready to be converted into a grassy park. “They totally managed all the goats, so that all the kids, both human and four-legged, were safe,” said Kristy Heffner, Principal of Penn Elementary. “The only concern we had to address was people wondering if it would hurt the goats to eat poison ivy and wild mustard. We learned from the owners that the goats are very able to handle this invasive sort of plant with no ill effects.” After those first successful visits, Theodore Roosevelt Education Center, Lincoln Elementary and City High were next on the list for the spring of 2017, chosen because of the severity of their situations. West High, however, isn’t on the list as of right now. There has been talk of them coming to clear the areas around the practice fields in a few years though. This year at the education center, the grounds