The suburban Chicago club brought in 40 goats, at $3 per day, to help eliminate fence switchgrass and other growth that had proliferated after an especially wet season. The new crew members ate 1.2 acres in seven days and in the process helped to stress the unwanted plants, so they can be eradicated more easily.
La Grange (Ill.) Country Club has become one of the latest converts to the cost-efficient concept of putting ravenous goats to work as hard-working, part-time members of the grounds crew, MySuburbanLife.com reported.
Steve Peake, the club’s Grounds Committee chairman, told MySuburbanLife.com that the club recently rented a total of 40 goats for a week at $3 per day to help eliminate plant overgrowth. And within a week, the expenditure had already paid off many times over.
“They already ate 1.2 acres of fence switchgrass, small and large bluegrass stems and various wildflowers in seven days,” Peake told MySuburbanLife.com.
Peake credited Jeff Brinegar, La Grange’s Superintendent, with getting the idea after hearing about it from a colleague at St. Charles (Ill.) Country Club.
The animals were rented from The Green Goats, based in Monroe, Wis., MySuburbanLife.com reported. The company is owned and operated by Kim Hunter, who told the website that her rare breed of Spanish goats can eat an average of 150 to 300 feet of plants per day.
And the benefits extend beyond simply eating foliage, Hunter added.
“They stress the plants,” she said. “If we stress the plants enough, we can damage the roots, so we weaken the plant and kill it.
“I’m rebalancing the ecosystem so that it can function by bringing in the natural predator of the plants that don’t belong,” Hunter told MySuburbanLife.com. “These guys really blow through the food fast.”
According to Hunter, natural areas of La Grange CC became overgrown because of the unusually wet weather this season.
“The stuff was very, very thick when I got there,” Hunter said. “They have some natural areas and because of the rain, the growth went crazy and some non-native things got in there. We put the goats in there and now, there won’t be too many non-native plants.
“Everyone is much happier with the goats doing the work,” she added. “Goats can nimbly pick around anything.”
“We’re more than impressed,” Peake told MySuburbanLife.com. “It was a really nice alternative to using gas and burning [the overgrowth]. This is a lot more eco-friendly. It’s also cost-effective and gave a big buzz to the club. It’s been a big hit with the membership. We’ve had lots of tours with kids.”
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