Town considers using goats to trim land

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October 1, 2009

By Bethany Bray

In an effort to go green, Andover may soon go goat.

The town's Conservation Commission is considering using goats to "mow" a three-and-a-half-acre meadow in the Virginia Hammond Reservation on High Plain Road. The idea, to be discussed at the commission's Oct. 6 meeting, is to have an Andover farmer graze her goats in the meadow - "mowing" it, the natural way.

"At the end of the day, we'll have a bunch of fat, happy goats, and a nice clean field," said Bob Douglas, conservation director.

The plan would save the cost, man hours and pollution that goes with keeping the area up with large, commercial mowers, said Bob Decelle, conservation commission special project manager, and could be the start of a bigger program, encompassing other types of animals and additional conservation properties in town.

"It's really a win-win for everybody with these situations. Farms have done this for centuries. It's really nothing new, in that regard," said Decelle, whose wife, Gail Ralston, is on the Conservation Commission.

The new mowers don't ask for much - just an all-you-can-eat buffet of the lush greens that grows on the conservation property. Keeping the parcel's plant life trimmed, also keeps it as a meadow, said Douglas.

"We're losing our fields as Massachusetts becomes more and more wooded," said Douglas. "We're losing the habitat for nesting birds.

"It's really good land management to maintain a certain amount of fields in town, he said. "(The Virginia Hammond Reservation) is one of the largest conservation reservations in town, and links to a large AVIS holding. The whole area is really a gem for the town, and we've made it a priority to make it user-friendly."

Decelle has been talking with a local woman who has six goats, and lives close enough to the High Plain Road meadow that she could walk the herd to graze. If approved by the Conservation Commission, a semi-permanent fence would go up around the meadow's perimeter, with smaller, moveable fences inside that would keep the goats in a specific area needing to be mowed.

The goat farmer asked Decelle not to name her for this story, but she will attend the Oct. 6 commission meeting.

Six goats can handle a half-acre of land in three days, said Decelle. Details are still being worked out, but the animals would be taken home after grazing and would not stay on town property overnight.

Any "byproduct" left behind by the goats would be natural fertilizer, said Decelle.

Douglas used to commute through Lexington every day, and witnessed a similar program, where sheep grazed on a historic green.

"It's quite amazing," said Douglas. "They would bring in 100 sheep. By the time I came home, the sheep had been moved and the spot looked like it had been mowed to the ground."