Job description: Skilled practitioners needed for on-site work. Shifts are round-the-clock with no days off. Must be team player, willing to work closely with groups of colleagues, and sure-footed. Food allowance on site – all you can eat.
You might think it would be hard to fill positions like this, but it’s a dream job for the herd of goats munching their way through the vegetation on Wake Robin’s hillsides. Residents and staff regularly stop to watch this team of 53 eating machines ply their trade. They are tasked with poison ivy abatement (treat food!) and anything else that lies in their path. While they roam the steep hillsides, their world is one huge salad bar.
Our new workforce is contained by an electric fence with occasional assistance from Frankie, the border collie who moves the herd to the next
location. Each one wears a GPS tracker and sets their own “to do” list which is more of a “to eat” list. The goats eat, compost, and aerate the ground as they go. Our human Grounds crew scatter wildflower seeds in the work zone taking advantage of all those sharp little hooves pushing seeds into the earth (safe from bird browsing) and cracking the hulls, improving germination.
Another benefit to this operation is that it costs half the price of using human-controlled lawn equipment and reduces the erosion caused by large machines on hillsides.
There are several rent-a-goat operations in Vermont, and we were lucky enough to get a small herd of very mellow, very friendly herbivores, all too happy to land a gig in Shelburne. This farm is Cloud Brook Grazing out of Barnet. Whether you call it targeted grazing or goatscaping, it’s sustainable, it’s green, and really fun to watch!
