Herd at work: Goats are grazing Greenville park as the city’s latest landscapers

Goats are joining the City of Greenville’s landscaping crew. Four herds of goats will be grazing in Greenville’s Cleveland Park this month to help clear the Richland Creek bank of invasive plants by eating and digesting them. “Goatscaping” is an environmentally friendly way to maintain grounds. Instead of weed-whacking or chemical sprays, goats graze on plants like kudzu and poison ivy to help clear the area.

Greenville Parks and Grounds Administrator Staci Schafer said using goats helps keep the area tidy with a minimal carbon footprint. “Goats do that naturally. They eat it, they ingest it, they enjoy it. And they when they pass it through, they sterilize at the same time, which is a huge win,” Schafer said. “That’s not something we can do when we’re hand pulling those or using machinery. We have to use chemicals to neutralize and stop propagation.”

Schafer said it’s not always possible to avoid machines in landscaping, but using natural alternatives helps avoid excess noise and air pollution. The goats are also cost effective. Hosting the goats for a month costs less than a five-person crew, Schafer said. Additionally, the crew would need to use a truck and trailer to haul the debris – something that the goats do naturally. When they pass the plants, they also fertilize the area.

Hailing from Landrum, the goat crew picks up first municipal gig. All the goats come from A Roxbury Goat Farm in Landrum. Marnie Prior, who owns the farm, said they have worked across the Upstate and in North Carolina over their four years in operation. The city of Greenville is hosting 36 goats, though there are 60 altogether on Prior’s farm.

“We had five goats and I had a cargo van, and I thought I would just do a little side gig, but that quickly turned into 60 and a trailer,” Prior said. “The demand is that much.” Each herd has a special name. Prior said the most popular herd is “The Dairy Queens,” but they’re assisted by the “Stryker” herd, named for her son’s work in the Army, the “Machete” herd, and the “Magnificent Six.”

Prior said the goats have worked on larger projects such as businesses and condominiums, but this is their first municipal project. The goat crew will work along Richland Creek, a tributary of the Reedy River. They’re starting near Ebaugh Avenue and will move further down the creek toward the East Washington Street bridge in two weeks.

In between grazing, they live onsite in tarps draped like tents that are equipped with solar-powered cameras, hay, and water. Their owner and other staff members check on them every day. Using goats for landscaping purposes in the city was something Schafer begged her boss for, she said. She hopes to expand the grazing practices to other parts of the city. She and Prior connected on Facebook in October.

Schafer hopes to use the goats over two to three years during peak growing seasons, after which she hopes city staff will be able to keep invasive species under control. Invasive plants like ivy, kudzu, knotweed, and privet take up space and nutrients, choking other plants that are native to the area. They also propagate quickly, making them difficult to eliminate. Eventually, overgrowth can mean eliminating food sources for local insects, birds, and wildlife. Creek bank stability can suffer, which can increase pollution in the water.

Keeping the invasive species away from Richland Creek and other waterways in the area helps preserve green space for residents, Schafer said. “The goal of our parks is to provide and preserve natural beauty,” she said. “Everything that we can do to keep it natural so that we’re passing that on to future generations is always a positive.”