'Really good at their job': Wascana Centre weed management team includes over 200 goats

Two-hundred-seventy goats took to Wascana Hill Wednesday as the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) launched the second year of their goat grazing initiative.

The goal is to get rid of invasive weeds that cover the hill and to help the natural foliage grow while also implementing a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach.

About 140 kid goats are part of the group grazing. (BrianneFoley/CTVNews)

“It’s the start of our second year in our multi-year targeted grazing project. So this year we doubled up, we’re bringing extra goats, we have 270 to kick us off in our grazing efforts,” Sarah Romuld, ecologist for PCC, said.

According to a news release, each goat eats about 10 pounds of weeds per day and the increase in number of livestock this year will help cover more land.

“We want to restore the native prairie, which is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. So we’re trying to eliminate the invasive species and hopefully bring back the prairie grasslands,” Florentine Maathius, shepard in charge from No Kidding Weed Management said.

Those natural grasses include Canada wild rye, rough fescue and green needle grass.

As for the goats, there are about 140 kids in the group, the youngest just three weeks old. The goats are from Elbow, Sask.

"This represents a 100 percent year-over-year increase of goats in Wascana Centre. Goat grazing allows us to reduce the spread of invasive plants without the use of chemical herbicides and machinery,” Minister Responsible for the Provincial Capital Commission Don McMorris said in a news release.

In addition to more goats, more land will be covered as well, with a second location this year.

“So the second location is the old restoration prairie site, which is actually just across the marsh, so they’re not moving that far. So they’ll be grazing there, it’s mostly thistles, so they’re going to help control the thistle population,” Romuld said.

The goats will move section by section on Wascana Hill until June 1.

“The shepherd will be setting up paddocks around the area and based on how dense the vegetation is in that area, the goats will graze on that paddock for one day or in less time and be introduced to another area for the remainder of the day,” Romuld explained.

The public is welcome to come see them work between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but Maathius asks that residents stay back from the electric fence and keep dogs on leashes to not distract the shepherd dogs working.

Then they head to the restoration site for an additional four to five days.

This is just the first phase of grazing. The second will begin in late July or early August, so that the bulbs removed in this grazing, can’t seed again.

As for the goats, as far as employees go, they are exemplary.

“Goats are more browsers and while they walk they trample down a lot of green stuff. They also know what they’re doing, they go straight for the alfalfa, the absent, the clover and leave the grass alone,” Maathius said.

In addition, they fertilize the grounds as they go, making them the perfect weed whackers.

According to Maathius, they are pretty good listeners, to the dogs anyways. “To me, a little bit. They have a pretty good mind of their own.”