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1. J E N N I F E R C O O K
S M A L L A C R E A G E M A N A G E M E N T S P E C I A L I S T
C O LO R A D O S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y E X T E N S I O N &
U S DA - N R C S
J U LY 3 0 , 2 0 1 9
Using Goats to Graze Weeds in
Urban Public Spaces
3. Research Question
What are the social, economic and logistical
considerations of using goats as an alternative
weed control method in a city grazing project?
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4. Relevance of Study
Importance to environment
Booth & Skelton, 2011; Garcia et al., 2012 Losada et al., 1998; Richardson,
2014
Revival of urban farming – grazing historically used
for vegetation control
Logsdon, 2004; Peischel & Henry, 2006
Very little research on targeted grazing in urban
areas
Losada et al., 1998; Richardson, 2014; Willard, 2016
This research benefits city planners, municipal land
managers, livestock producers, and other
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5. Discussion of Terms
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Targeted Grazing - employs livestock to manipulate
vegetation to improve landscape function and
enhance appearance
right timing, right species, right frequency of grazing
City grazing project - city in Colorado partnered
with local farmer to employ goats to attempt to
reduce weeds along an urban recreational trail.
4-8 goats graze a few months per year
Rotated through ½ acre sections
One acre grazed in 2014. Expanded to 4 parcels (about 10
acres total)
6. Methodology: Participants & Procedure
Purposeful sampling to identify five stakeholders
Narrative research design
Qualitative interviews and field notes
Unstructured open-ended interviews audio
recorded
Goat owner
City workers
IRB approved
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7. Methodology: Data Collected
City workers and goat owner were asked open-ended research
questions:
1. What are the safety and liability concerns cities should
consider?
2. What are the economic costs of such projects?
3. How does the local public perceive the use of livestock for
weed control?
4. What are the environmental impacts?
5. Should grazing be a part of a weed management plan?
Why or why not?
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8. Methodology: Data Analysis—
Categorization of Codes
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Initial Code Collapsed
Safety
Signage Community
Public Perceptions
Farm Public Relations
Partnerships
Lease Relationships
Economic Costs
Sustainable
Farm Legacy Sustainability
Environmental
Impacts
9. Results
“I find the more notification we can
do ahead of time is better than
having people surprised. Its just a
lot more accepted. If they
understand, then they’re not
upset”
(city worker #2, group interview, November 3,
2016)
The main concerns are “making sure
they don’t get out. Making sure
there are signs posted to not
interfere with them”
(city worker #3, group interview, November 3,
2016)
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“I’m not sure that people realize
that it’s not a farm they’re riding
by on their bikes. I just don’t know
they realize it’s part of the city
open space”
(city worker #2, group interview, November 3,
2016)
“It wasn’t the farm’s goats. It was,
where are MY goats? And that to
me is when the people sort of
create this community bond”
(goat owner, personal interview, November 2,
2016)
Community
10. Results
The lease “notes all sorts of things
like what time I can be on the
property, what kinds of machinery I
can take on the property”
(goat owner, personal interview, November 2,
2016)
“It wasn’t like I had to import goats
from Wyoming or Montana. It was
local, and I had somebody I could
work with, so it was a good
partnership that way”
(city worker #2, group interview, November 3, 2016)
“And what the city encouraged me
to think about, and has worked
very well, is UV zip ties”
(goat owner, personal interview, November 2,
2016)
Relationships
10
“We are putting in the posts and
she is buying the panels. And
we’re installing them”
(city worker #2, personal interview, November
3, 2016)
11. Results
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“a natural form of weed control. It
alleviates using the tractor and
diesel fuel”
(city worker #3, group interview, November 3,
2016)
“We can enrich the soil. We can get
the weeds under control. We can
reseed. And there is this good public
karma with having animals around.
And that’s the magic piece”
(goat owner, personal interview, November 2, 2016
“The grazing is something that I
see as really a legacy that could be
a positive sustainability piece
between people’s food and
agriculture and their
understanding”
(goat owner, personal interview, November 2,
2016)
Sustainability
“The environment that the goats
are going to be in . . . you have
to make sure the stuff you’re
going to be grazing on is healthy
for them”
(city worker #3, group interview, November 3,
2016)
12. Discussion
Community
Safety - signage and public communication
Community perspectives
Community investment
Relationships
Good working partnership and communication
Innovations
Share material costs and labor
Sustainability
Consider site specifics, environmental impacts
Closed loop system
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13. Implications
Considerations
Size and scale of project
How the grazing project is
communicated to the community for
safety and understanding
Land accessibility, grazing infrastructure,
liability, costs, and emergency
preparedness
Human happiness, environmental
pollution, habitat biodiversity, and
sustainability
Develop a lease agreement
Monitor weed impact over time
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14. Limitations and Future Research
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Environmental impacts based on anecdotal visual
data
Long-term quantitative field data to evaluate the
environmental and vegetative impacts are needed
Project lacks input from residents
Resident survey or interviews for future research
Future community educational programs
15. Product: Urban Grazing Guide
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Checklist of
considerations
Example vegetation
monitoring
strategies
Example targeted
grazing plan
16. References
Booth, A., & Skelton, N. (2011). Anatomy of a failed sustainability initiative: Government and community resistance to
sustainable landscaping in a Canadian city. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, 7(4), 56-68.
Garcia, R. R., Celaya, R., Garcia, K., & Osoro, K. (2012). Goat grazing, its interactions with other herbivores and biodiversity
conservation issues. Small Ruminant Research, 10, 49-64. doi: 10.1016/j.smallrumres.2012.03.021.
Logsdon, G. (2004). All Flesh is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Losada, H., Marinez, H., Vieyra, J., Pealing, R., Zavala, R., & Cortes. (1998). Urban agriculture in the metropolitan zone of
Mexico City: Changes over time in urban, suburban and peri-urban areas. Environment and Urbanization, 10, 37-54.
Peischel, A., & Henry Jr., D. D. (2006). Targeted grazing: A natural approach to vegetation management and landscape
enhancement. American Sheep Industry Association (ASI). Retrieved from
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/rxgrazing/handbook/asitargetgrazingbook2006.pdf
Richardson, Z. A. (2014). Urban prescribed grazing as an alternative to conventional land management techniques:
Environmental, economic, and social implications. (Master’s Thesis). Retrieved from
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/richardson_zachary_a_201405_mla.pdf
Willard, R. (2016). Animals in roadside vegetation management. Washington State Department of Transportation
Maintenance Operations. Retrieved from https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C2EDF36B-63E7-434E-946E-
E78F306501F5/0/goatreport.pdf
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17. J E N N I F E R CO O K
S M A L L AC R E AG E M A N AG E M E NT CO O R D I N ATO R
C S U E X T E N S I O N / U S DA - N R C S
J E N N I F E R . CO O K @ CO LO S TAT E . E D U
Using Goats to Graze Weeds in
Urban Public Spaces
Hinweis der Redaktion
Work with beginning and urban farmers as well as hobby farmers in Colorado near Denver. I have lived in CO for 12 years but I grew up in PA, so it’s nice to be back in my home state.
My involvement started in 2015 when I was asked to develop a grazing plan for a public site. The project turned into my masters research which included qualitative interviews of project participants, developing vegetation monitoring protocols, grazing plans for a few more sites, and a community Meet the Goats Day – where the local news came, over 100 people to learn more about the goats and the grazing project. Great way to facilitate discussion about farming with an urban community disconnected from where their food comes from.
The purpose of this study was to describe the social, economic and logistical considerations of using goats as an alternative weed control method in the city of Wheat Ridge grazing project. The following research questions were asked.
Why is this research relevant?
Booth and Skelton (2011) point out that the growing human health and environmental concerns about herbicide use has pressured municipalities to utilize more sustainable weed management practices. In urban areas, where public perception can be very influential, grazing can be a more acceptable practice
Targeted grazing can improve air, soil, and water quality and can be a more sustainable option than the use of synthetic herbicides, fertilizers, and burning fossil fuels from the use of heavy equipment (Richardson, 2014).
Grazing has been used historically for veg control and urban grazing ties in well with the recent urban ag trend.
There is much research on using targeted grazing on traditional farming systems and large tracts of land (Frost & Launchbaugh, 2003; Peischel & Henry, 2006; Rinella & Hileman, 2009). While the grazing principles are the same (i.e., right timing, right species, right frequency of grazing, etc.), there are different social, economic, and logistical considerations when using targeted grazing in urban and suburban settings.
Many news and media stories cover urban livestock and grazing, but there are few scholarly research studies to help answer these questions.
The insights gained in this study will benefit city planners, municipal land managers, livestock producers, and other urban/suburban stakeholders as they consider using livestock for target grazing in urban public landscapes.
In 2014, a city in Colorado, began a small project using goats for targeted weed control. The city Parks and Recreation Department partnered with a local farm to employ goats to attempt to reduce weeds along Clear Creek trail - an urban recreational trail that runs along Clear Creek. The project area is in close proximity to houses, schools, roads, and businesses. One acre was fenced and grazed in 2014. Additional fencing was installed over last few years. In 2018, 4 parcels and about 10 acres are grazed.
Qualitative interviews and observations were employed to describe experiences, themes, and perceptions of the Wheat Ridge urban grazing project. Participants took part in unstructured, open-ended interviews in which general and emerging questions were asked. The four city workers were interviewed as a group and the goat owner was interviewed separately.
IRB-approved script –informed consent, names, job titles are not disclosed
Qualitative research involves investigating a topic of inquiry in a systematic way and then conducting a content analysis on the data collected (Merriam, 2009). Each interview was typed into a word processing document. The researcher reviewed the documents and coded and analyzed the data for themes and patterns (Creswell, 2014; Silverman, 2001). Next the researcher reviewed findings and decided upon ten initial codes (see Table 1). After further review, the initial ten codes were collapsed into three overall themes: 1) community, 2) relationships, and 3) sustainability
Individual coding and analysis of data for themes and patterns
Because this was qualitative research, I used quotes from the interviews to tell a story. The themes are community, relationships, and sustainability.
Safety, signage, communication, perspectives, community investment - building community and relationships.
Goat owner told a story about the first time she grazed her goats on the public space. She wasn’t sure how the community was feeling about it or if they even noticed. But then the day she removed them, she got calls from people saying where are MY goats?.....
Qualitative pieces – maybe use one example or tell a story , what was important to all
The project was grounded on a good partnership.
Good communication – lease, cost sharing materials and labor
Emergencies and expectations are discussed and planned for
Local partnership – shared cost of infrastructure – long-term
Innovative ideas have come out of the relationship
Building community based on great relationships and the partners all considered natural resources and sustainability of the project.
Consider environmental impacts – site specific history, T&E species, forage for goats
Natural resources - Air, water, soil health, plants and people
Sustainable – resources, economics, quality of life
Site specific history of this area was farming, and this project helped revitalize this – last guote…
Closed loop system – They utilize local resources – goats, manure, forage, and sell products (milk, cheese, soap) to local community.
Site specifics - T&E, Farm legacy, vegetation, soil, water impacts
What are the social, economic and logistical considerations of using goats as an alternative weed control method in a city grazing project?
What are the safety and liability concerns cities should consider?
What are the economic costs of such projects?
How does the local public perceive the use of livestock for weed control?
What are the environmental impacts?
Why should grazing be a part of a weed management plan?
So what does all this mean to someone considering an urban targeted grazing project?
The main purpose of the study asks- What are the social, economic and logistical considerations of using goats as an alternative weed control method in a city grazing project?
Good idea to be able to monitor weed impact over time, to measure relevance of this method.
The environmental impacts discussed in the research were based on anecdotal visual data. While we can assume that grazing is more environmentally beneficial than using herbicides or heavy equipment, the argument would be strengthened with quantitative field data to evaluate the impacts of soil health, air quality, and vegetation with one method of weed control verses another. For example, a long-term evaluation of vegetation and soil quality changes over time.
Update on project: Since 2014, expanded to about 10 acres of grazing on 4 sites. One plot has been reseeded to native grasses and excluded from grazing as it establishes. Its looking great. Last winter in 2018 the goats were stolen from one of the open space plots. So no grazing has taken place this year yet. The goat owner is replacing her herd and looking in to tracking devices for the new goats.
Ocular plant composition and density of weed species were used because each take little time and resources.
Most comprehensive handbook is through University of Idaho and American Sheep Industry Association – Targeted grazing handbook