Weed control on hooves

Look out, dyer's woad. There's a new weed-whacker in town, with a serious appetite for just about anything green.

The U.S. Forest Service is bringing in some 500 goats to chomp on 10 to 15 acres of the noxious weed dyer's woad in the Compton Bench area above Farmington.

If left unchecked, dyer's woad would eventually take over the area and reduce forage available for wildlife, said Kathy Jo Pollock, USFS spokeswoman. She said recent wildfires in the area created conditions for the weed to spread.

"They more or less strangle out native plants and grasses," Pollock said. Dyer's woad "is definitely not native to Utah," she said.

The weed eating, which started Friday night, will take about three days, she said.

The Forest Service decided to use the goats because they love the taste of dyer's woad and are more efficient and cost-effective than the traditional method of digging out the weeds, Pollock said.

"They can eat five acres in a day," Pollock said. "It's just cost-effective."

The goats, supplied by D'Goat Ranch of Fielding, Box Elder County, will be kept in their grazing area by an electric fence, said ranch co-owner Dee Garn. When the herd finishes off the weeds in one area, it's moved to the next area, he said. This concentrated grazing stimulates grass growth, he said.

"It's environmentally friendly, (compared with) chemicals," Garn said. "Also an advantage (is that) instead of just knocking down foliage and leaving it on the ground, which is a fire hazard, they consume it, and leave fertilizers down."

Garn said the goats, which have been eating weeds for the past two years, are "just another tool" in weed eradication. This is the first time Garn's goats have been used by the USFS, he said. The herds are also used for weed control at the Bear River Bird Refuge near Brigham and chomp on undergrowth for fire control at Camp Williams.

Kim Sorensen, superintendent of Murray Parks and Recreation, said the goats cleared weeds from Murray Park last year before the Fourth of July.

Sorensen said that because of cost restrictions, weeding will be done manually this year, but he'd like to bring the goats back next year.

"We see a lot more grass, which is what we want," he said. "We see fewer of the thistles and the weeds we wanted to eliminate."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com