600 goats clearing weeds from reserve

BOISE, Idaho, July 22 (UPI) -- Officials in an Idaho city said they are employing a team of 600 goats to eat weeds in a 680-acre nature reserve.

Julia Grant with the city of Boise said the project at the Polecat Gulch Reserve is the first time goats have been used by the city for landscaping, KTVB-TV, Boise, reported Thursday.

"Goats have been proven to be a very efficient manager of weeds," Grant said.

Lynda Linquist, who owns We Rent Goats in Wilder with her husband, said the city hired their animals to clear the skeletonweed from the reserve.

"It's a noxious weed, it comes in and takes over and chokes out the native plants. Our objective is to bring the goats in and they eat it and the way goats eat, they break it down and the then the seeds don't reproduce," Linquist said.

Grant said the goats are a more environmentally friendly alternative to weed sprays.

"We decided to try goats because they access areas where you don't want to be driving an ATV to spray weeds through the Foothills this time of the year for fear that you're going to light a fire," Grant said.