Goats might trim weeds at 2 Iowa City schools
Holly Hines
hhines2@press-citizen.com
When Duane Van Hemert suggested using goats to clear out vegetation at two elementary schools, he said his colleagues thought he was kidding.
But Van Hemert, the Iowa City Community School District's physical plant director, said he meant business more than a year ago when he proposed relying on hungry goats rather than manpower to clear plants and weeds at Penn and Shimek elementary schools.
"The conversation just devolved into using goats," he said.
The Iowa City Community School Board is scheduled to vote Tuesday evening on a $2,225 contract with Ames-based Goats on the Go to use goats to clear underbrush, and to improve playground and green spaces.
If approved, Van Hemert said, it would mark the first time the district has used goats in this capacity.
The goats would be used to clear about a half-acre at Shimek and 1.5 acres at Penn, according to information on the board's agenda.
Van Hemert said staff would use a fence to keep the goats from wandering away and to keep students from accessing the area. He said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has used goats for similar purposes.
Van Hemert said the projects, if approved, would begin as soon as May.
Aaron Steele, co-owner of Goats on the Go, said his business would deploy about 40 adult and baby goats to clear the areas at the elementary schools. Steele said the business, which serves Iowa and surrounding states, will have about 120 goats traveling from site to site through mid-October. He said the goats stay busy and eat a variety of plants, including bothersome ones such as poison ivy.
"They have a really good life in that sense, because goats really need variety in their diets," Steele said.
He said the business started in 2013 and is successful helping customers, particularly those seeking to avoid using chemicals or machines, to clear out broad-leaf plants and brush.
"It works quite well," he said.
Reach Holly Hines at hhines2@press-citizen.com or at 319-887-5414 and follow her on Twitter: @HollyJHines.