Goats Hired To Clear Brush For City

The only task for the newest city employees in Las Cruces is to eat.

But they don’t get to do it behind a desk.

The quiet grazing inside a retention pond may sound and look like a zoo, but it is actually coming from the city?s 80 newest hires for the city – more commonly known as ?Billy the Goat? – hard at work.

“This is a type of natural, green, way of handling our problems of over excessive weeds in areas it’s hard to maintain,” Jake Perrault, goat herder, said.

The four-legged, coarse-haired goats are both an efficient and cost-effective way for the city to keep up with outdoor maintenance, Perrault said.

“The weeds were higher than this fence here, you couldn?t see through the fence before, so they have pretty much eradicated all this first overgrowth,” Perrault said.

The difference in savings between using the goats and humans is substantial.

“The goats are costing us about $250 a day,” said Mike Johnson, director of Las Cruces Public Works. “You’re looking at probably somewhere between $600 or $700 for (human) crews to be in there working, plus the cost of equipment.”

And the retention pond where they are currently working is an ideal place for goats, Perrault said.

“They love this, this is like a smorgasbord for them,? Perrault said. ?This is the best environment for goats; a goat prefers this type of environment to being pinned up and just fed hay.”

They may not get paid the same as a normal citizen, but chowing down on vegetation is like a day in paradise for Billy.

?They don?t complain as long as they have stuff to eat,? Perrault said.

And there?s more perks with the job.

?They don?t have to file taxes (but) I do,? Perrault said, as he laughed.

Once their job is finished, the herd will be transported to another area, and the cycle will continue on an as-needed basis, Johnson said.