CALGARY — Baaaack for another year of grazing, your local goats will be eating their way through Calgary's Nose Hill Park — nibbling away some of the vegetation that surrounds the area.The Western Standard took to the fields of Nose Hill to find the spokes-goats for the city of Calgary's grazing program, which incorporates 600 of these baaarnyard landscapers to graze at the site 24/7 until the end of July, maintaining the health of the grasslands. This is how it works: fields like Nose Hill's evolved with vegetation that was grazed by native large herbivores like bison and elk, which grazed and turned soil over with their hooves. Since these herbivores are not necessarily seen roaming these fields any longer, another herbivore — the goat — takes centre field with its gold-star vegetation-eating abilities. ."There's a cycling of nutrients that happens when the goats are on the landscape," added Andrew Phelps, a park ecologist at the City of Calgary's Natural Areas Management. "They go through an area, they digest the vegetation, and then they release that vegetation as droppings, which fertilizes the landscape and cycles of nutrients.""When the goats are moving across the landscape, they're also tilling up that soil with their hooves, which breaks up the soil, loosens it up, makes it easier for seeds to germinate."Put simply, Phelps says the goats are an "artificial way of reintroducing grazing now that we've sort of forced out or displaced the species that would do that normally.".The goats remove 40-50% of the biomass in the areas they graze, which allows "new real estate for our native species to establish."They also tend to reduce in weeds — which benefits everyone (because who likes those). No need to worry about any predators getting in the way — the goats are under 24/7 surveillance, with herding dogs there for protection, along with shepherds and the immediate area is fenced off. The shepherd directing the herd, also the owner and operator of Baah'd Plant Management and Reclamation, Jeannette Hall, learned how to manage her herd while working on agricultural sites..She also answered the age-old question — why goats and not sheep or cattle?Hall states it's because goats "have enzymes that help break down a lot of the toxins in the weeds that they're eating, and so that's why a lot of the weeds that other livestock won't eat are actually palatable to the goats."She adds the goats are specially trained for grazing these fields: "this herd's been together almost 30 years, and we're a closed herd.""What makes our herd so reliable when we come to our job sites, and we know we're going to eat the targeted plants.".Hall adds to achieve their goal of 24 hour surveillance with the goats — she will be camping at the park with the goats until July 30.The city began the goat grazing program in 2016.
