Oh my goat-ness! What are those animals doing?
The City of Victor Harbor is always investigating innovative ways to improve the work we do.
Recently, Council staff trialed the use of goats to control invasive weeds.
Using goats to control weed growth can assist traditional control methods and enable efficient, sustainable reserve management. A major advantage of goats is that, unlike some machinery or herbicides, they can potentially control brush and weeds without contaminating or disturbing existing grass and soil.
The goats were fenced into a Mount Jagged reserve for a period of time where they could graze freely, and help to reduce the amount of blackberry in the area.
Blackberry is a sprawling, semi-deciduous shrub with arching, prickly or thornless canes. It is a declared weed in the Fleurieu Peninsula region. Blackberry plants are notoriously difficult to control and often require repeat treatments of herbicide spraying to stop them growing into a dense thicket of canes.
The use of goats as a tool to reduce biomass is expected to enormously reduce the need for herbicide treatments, and therefore limit impact on native sedges.
As the goat trial is now complete, City of Victor Harbor staff are assessing how effective the goats were compared to other control methods. The team will also consider any adverse effects.
