Goats provide cheaper, 'greener' landscaping for school district


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SALT LAKE CITY — They are voracious eaters, these goats.

Trucked in from Fielding in Box Elder County, 100 of the hoofed weed eaters descended on a steep hillside behind Washington Elementary School on 200 West and set about the task of munching down on the overgrown vegetation.

"You can see a huge difference between Friday night and this morning," said Ricardo Zubiate, a beaming smile on his face as he watched them do their thing Saturday morning.

Zubiate, the assistant facilities manager for the Salt Lake City School District, said this is the first time the district has turned to goats as a landscaping tool.

"This hill has been an issue for us for a lot of years," he added. "It gets overgrown with weeds and vegetation that grows wildly. We've spent a lot of money trying to remove this vegetation."

The overgrowth presents a safety issue for the children as well as the neighborhood, providing cover for transients who may use it as a camping spot.

In the past, the district has spent upward of $8,000 for a grounds crew to come in and clear the mess. The goats cost $2,000.

Mark Ruff, the district's grounds supervisor, said the goats provide an ecologically healthy alternative to herbicides and reflect the district's efforts to cut down on the use of chemicals as much as possible.

Districtwide, pesticide and herbicide use has been reduced in buildings by 90 percent, Ruff said, and a similar focus is on using alternatives outdoors as much as possible.

(Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

"There have been a lot of environmental changes that have gone on in the world, and this is one of the good ones," he said. "The less we can use chemicals, the better."

District officials, long frustrated with the vexing problem presented by the steep hillside, even brought in landscape architect to get ideas on what to do.

"Restructuring the hillside is too costly for us to tackle," Zubiate said, noting that it was the professional landscapers who suggested the services of D' Goat Farm in Box Elder County.

The goats arrived Friday night and will stay until Monday, undertaking their assignment with great zeal and providing a curious distraction for neighbors. Signs adorn the fenced perimeter, asking people to refrain from feeding the goats. That would, after all, defeat the purpose.

After the hillside is sufficiently depleted of weeds and other unwelcome vegetation, the plan is to go in and plant native grasses and shrubbery that won't require this kind of intensive effort ever again.

"We feel like this is a win-win situation," Zubiate said. "I think we brought the farm to the city, or at least the goats. The goats get to eat, so they're happy, and we're happy."

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Amy Joi O'Donoghue

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