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STANDARDS
CCSS: 7.NS.A.3, MP1, MP2
TEKS: 7.3B, 7.13D
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Wild Weed-Whackers
Want to get rid of weeds and prevent wildfires? Rent a goat!
About 40 goats are busy eating in Ada Hayden Heritage Park in Ames, Iowa. They don’t care about the park visitors and dog owners on the other side of the fence at all. They only see delicious brush and grasses.
The goats aren’t there to entertain visitors; they’re doing a job. These goats are only a small part of a herd that belongs to Goats On the Go. It’s one of the growing number of goat-renting businesses across the U.S. Cities, businesses, and individuals are renting goats to perform controlled grazing on green areas.
About 40 goats are busy eating in a park in Ames, Iowa. The goats don’t care about the people watching them. They only see delicious brush and grasses.
The goats aren't there to entertain visitors. They're doing a job for Goats On the Go. Goats on the Go is a business that rents goats. It's one of many goat-renting businesses across the U.S. Cities, businesses, and individuals rent goats to perform controlled grazing. In controlled grazing, goats eat weeds, leaves, and grasses in a specific area.
Goats are a natural way to manage weeds and prevent wildfires. Goat grazing also doesn’t produce any pollution like big machines or chemical pesticides do. As an added bonus, the goats’ waste fertilizes the soil! On average, it takes 40 adult goats four days to clear one acre of land.
In the Midwest, the focus is to get rid of invasive weeds like honeysuckle, buckthorn, and poison ivy. Goats love to eat these unwanted plants, says Aaron Steele, one of the co-owners of Goats On the Go. “We really are just relying on the natural tendencies of the goats,” he says.
People typically use machines to cut grass and remove weeds. They will also use chemicals to kill weeds. But these methods can pollute the environment. That makes goat grazing an environmentally friendly alternative. Their waste even fertilizes the soil! It takes 40 adult goats about four days to clear one acre of land.
In the Midwest, the goats help get rid of invasive weeds. Weeds like honeysuckle, buckthorn, and poison ivy were brought from other places. Luckily goats love eating these unwanted weeds. "We really are just relying on the natural tendencies of the goats," says Aaron Steele. He’s one of the co-owners of Goats on the Go.
In Colorado, Einar Jensen hired goats to help prevent wildfires. He’s a risk reduction specialist at South Metro Fire Rescue in Centennial, Colorado. His city has many shrub oaks. These short trees can spread fires easily. The goats eat the oaks’ leaves and smaller branches close to the ground. This creates “fire breaks” between the surface grass and the upper canopy branches.
Fire breaks prevent flames from reaching the canopy. If the canopy caught fire, the blaze would become more difficult to fight. Eliminating any extra brushes or fuel sources in between grasses and trees also helps. “That’s why the goats are so effective for preventing wildfires,” Jensen says.
Goats can also help prevent wildfires. Einar Jensen is a risk reduction specialist at South Metro Fire Rescue in Centennial, Colorado. He's hired goats to snack on the shrub oaks in his city. These short trees can spread fires easily. The goats eat the oaks' leaves. They also snack on the smaller branches close to the ground. This creates "fire breaks." A fire break is cleared space between the ground and the upper branches of the canopy. The canopy is made up of the top branches of the trees.
Fire breaks prevent flames from reaching the canopy. It’s difficult to fight fires that reach the canopy. Getting rid of extra brushes or fuel sources in between grasses and trees also helps. "That's why the goats are so effective for preventing wildfires," Jensen says.
When running a business that performs a service (instead of selling a product), the owner will often calculate an estimate of what the client can expect to pay. This is sometimes called a quote, and both parties agree to it before the service is performed. Goat rental companies charge based on acreage to be cleared and fees for the goat herders.
Write an estimate for what it would cost to rent goats for each scenario in the following questions. Record your work and answers on our answer sheet.
A city park is 5 acres. How many goats and herders are needed to clear it in 4 days? What would the total estimate for this job be?
A nature reserve wants to hire goats to eat the weeds growing in a 40-acre area. How many goats and herders are needed to clear it in 7 days? What is the total estimate for this job?
Clearing a grassy area with a weed-chewing tractor would cost $1,200 per acre. What’s the range in savings to hire a goat-rental company to clear 120 acres in 7 days instead of using a tractor?
A fire risk reduction specialist hired goats to clear a steep slope. The fee for this would be at the upper end of the estimate range. He ended up paying a total of $9,000 to clear 12.5 acres in 4 days. How much higher than the upper estimate was this fee?