MARLBOROUGH – With October approaching, Marlborough’s goats will soon be returning to their home at Houde’s Christmas Tree Farm after a productive summer clearing unwanted plants.
Since 2017, the city has been using goats as an environmentally-friendly way to clear poison ivy and invasive species like Japanese knotweed and bittersweet.
“It’s a nice green way of doing yard care,” Marlborough Conservation Officer Priscilla Ryder said. “We probably wouldn’t have tackled some of these areas before and it’s a great way to get rid of some of these invasive plants.”
Ryder said the city initially started with a group of goats from a company called Goatscaping. When Houde’s learned about the program, the farm wanted to get involved. The city soon began hiring it for its goats.
In previous years they have helped clean areas off of Lake Williams and behind the Marlborough District Court House.
In August, the goats were fenced in at Holt’s Grove, and they were later moved to the Marlborough Community Garden to clear poison ivy around the outside of the fence.
According to Ryder, the goats serve an environmental purpose by eating plants the city would usually use gas- or electric-powered mowers to get rid of.
“They eat and then they fertilize the area that they’re eating, so that’s a benefit,” Ryder said.
Bittersweet especially, Ryder said, is so tangly that it is almost impossible to clear it with mowers. The goats make getting rid of it much more manageable.
Ryder said the goats were very good at getting rid of unwanted plants. If they stay in one place for long enough, the goats can damage the roots of these unwanted plants.
While some people get worried about the goats’ health when they learn that the goats were eating poison ivy, Ryder said it is completely safe.
“They love it. They like to eat it,” Ryder said. “They just like the nutrition that it provides.”
However, Ryder encouraged people not to pet the goats as they are eating the poisonous plant.
Ryder said that the goats have been a hit throughout the city, and the news about them does very well on Facebook.
She said that many people ask about hiring goats themselves and said that people interested can call Houde’s.
“Especially if you are really allergic to poison ivy, it’s a great way to get the mass of poison ivy down,” Ryder said. “I’m very allergic, so it’s welcome.”
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