Goats ‘delighted’ to see Hamilton property as they destroy invasive buckthorn deer one by one

The goat’s appetite is no joke.

That’s what Natalie Fistauer learned last week when she got a team of 50 goats to eat two acres of invasive buckthorn bushes on her rural Hamilton property — to great success.

The level of cleaning the goats accomplish in two days — by the mouth, no less — would normally take Fisthauer and her husband weeks if not months to get out and butcher by hand, he said.

“They’re much more efficient than we are,” Fisthauer said. “And they’re really quite delightful – an absolute joy. They’re very sweet and very friendly, and it’s hard to stay away from them.”

Throughout Southern Ontario, goats are becoming the GOAT when it comes to dealing with invasive plant species – otherwise known as the Greatest of All Time.

In recent years, property owners, conservation authorities and Municipalities have turned towardseco-herdTo chew not only buckthorn, but also phragmites, manitoba maple, dog strangles vine, vetch and Canada thistle, etc.

For nearly a decade, Fistauer and her husband have been playing a game of “whack-a-mole” with aggressively spreading buckthorn — clearing one area of ​​their 10 acres, only to have it spread to another. Buckthorn is a problem because it quickly becomes dense, changing the structure of the soil, blocking sunlight. prevents native plants By increasing.

Fisthauer said the couple recently turned to the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) for help managing it without herbicides. They decided to focus specifically on two areas with dense thickets of buckthorn and bring in experts.

goat lover brings herd

Goats in the City, a goat rental company based in King City, Ontario, arrived at the property last week with a trailer of goats ready to bleat around the bushes.

It was his first job in Hamilton and he thoroughly enjoyed it, said goat lover Ian Matthews, 58, the company’s founder and president, who is also writing a book about everything he’s learned from goats.

Buckthorn is like candy to them, he said. “Small lawn mowers” seek out buckthorn while eating important native plants like milkweed, and preserving them in the process.

Goats have another advantage.

Buckthorns spread when birds and other animals eat their berries and then expel the seeds, which then grow in new locations, Matthews said. On the other hand, the goat’s digestive process damages the seeds, so they are unable to develop after being excreted.

“Our idea is to use nature to cure nature,” said Matthews, who owns a total of 126 goats.

Growing up in Jamaica, his family raised goats. By age 11, he was in charge of about 50, Matthews said.

But as a child, he always wanted to be something other than herding goats. When he and his family eventually moved to Canada, he pursued a career as a mortgage broker.

Then, years later, he started helping his father take care of the goats, this time in the GTA, and couldn’t get enough.

“My whole childhood experience with goats came back to mind and I fell in love with them all over again,” he said.

By 2021, he launched goats in the city and has been making good use of the goats since then.

Each goat bred to be friendly has its own personality — for better or worse, Matthews said.

“Believe me, it’s not always fun, but it’s always interesting.”