Goderich has temporarily become ‘Goaterich’ as grazing goats take on a week of eating, in the name of infrastructure access. “So back in 2008 or 2009, we had a piece of the underground water infrastructure fail. And when we came in to make the repair, the disturbance to the soil let the invasive species, the Japanese knotweed and the Himalayan blackberry get established,” said Director of Operations, Infrastructure, and Community Services, Sean Thomas. “Over the last decade, we’ve tried different options or different methods to address the issue. This is the newest one, and so far it seems to be the most successful,” he added. Since Tuesday, 52 goats and 20 sheep have been eating undesirable vines and bushes covering a key corridor for Goderich’s water and natural gas pipes. Other options were considered to clear the utility corridor, but this unique approach won the day, says Goderich Deputy Mayor Leah Noel. “Mechanical solutions aren’t great, right? The slope is steep and the area is wet, so it makes it really hard to get equipment in, and we don’t want to use herbicides so close to the lake obviously. So, this opportunity presented itself to bring in a herd of goats to graze,” said Noel. The goat grazers have attracted a crowd each day as the chewing crew works its way from Sunset Park down to Cove Road near Goderich’s waterfront. “Goats are built for this. They love steep hills, they love vegetation, they love everything leafy, so they’re going for it, they eat everything, said the owner of Big Crunch Grazing, Florentine Maathuis, from Caledon East. “And because they’re relatively small and lightweight, their hooves are not a danger for erosion or anything. So they’re still respectful of the natural bluffs here,” said Maathuis. According to Maathius, her goats and sheep have been booked all summer, travelling across southern Ontario, chewing up hard to reach areas of the province. She stays on site with her herding dogs, while her herd works away behind an electric fence. They herd has until Sunday to complete Phase 1 of the job. “It will likely take a couple of times of bringing the goats and sheep back in order to completely manage the site. But this is step one, and this is how we assess moving forward in an environmentally friendly way,” said Noel.
