Months before the first snow falls, dozens of sheep and goats have been deployed to the slopes of Jay Peak in Vermont, near the Canadian border.
These animals are mowing down overgrown vegetation as part of an experiment to reduce reliance on gas-powered mechanical mowers.
Over a five-week stint, the herd is expected to clear 25 acres (10 hectares) of the 300 acres (120 hectares) that require maintenance. Officials deem the trial a success.
Andy Stenger, director of mountain and base area operations, commented: “This year has proven that it can be done and be done successfully. They’re great employees. They take a lot of lunch breaks, but that’s kind of the idea.”
The animals wear special collars that emit a noise if they get too close to an invisible fence, delivering a mild shock if they cross the barrier.
These collars also send data to the herd’s owner, Adam Ricci of Cloud Brook Grazing.
Ricci explained: “I can see where they’re spending most of their time. And I also get a heads up if there’s sick animals. I’ll see a drop in activity and then it’ll give me a notification.”
Using livestock for landscaping isn’t new. More than 25 years ago, a New Hampshire electric company used 1,000 sheep to clear vegetation under power lines. In 2010, the University of Georgia brought in goats to control an invasive plant overtaking a section of campus.
And the Nashville Chew Crew, a herd of sheep, has been working for the city’s parks department since 2017. New York City has also used goats to clear parts of its parks.
Ricci said his goats and sheep spent a busy summer cleaning up backyards, reclaiming abandoned farmland, gobbling up poison ivy and removing invasive species from the grounds of a retirement community.
“Ideally, we can scale this up to the point where it’s working well and then hopefully develop a model that can be used at other ski resorts as well,” he said. “But there’s still a lot to learn here.”
Further south, Magic Mountain ski area used a herd from Slippery Slope Goats last year to do its mowing.
In both cases, the collaboration was facilitated by the Agritech Institute for Small Farms, an organization working to increase access to advanced technology that can help small farms stay in business while mitigating climate change.
Goatscaping reduces the carbon footprint of vegetation control, reduces erosion and increases a site’s capacity to hold water, Ricci said. The cost per acre is similar to mechanical mowing, though he acknowledges the animals are slow.
“Conventional methods, they’re covering this whole entire site in about 10 days,” he said. “So these guys work significantly slower than weed whackers do.”
But employees and visitors at Jay Peak have enjoyed the friendly herd, Stenger said.
“It’s a lot of fun to have them on the mountain,” he said.
