MILLCREEK, Utah — The confusing sign outside Oakridge Elementary School in Millcreek currently reads "No dogs allowed, goats at work."
This summer, the Granite School District has employed an unlikely crew to rid outdoor spaces at several schools of pesky weeds and invasive plants.
“It takes a lot of man hours or chemicals or other things to control the weeds, and so this is a very cost-effective way to naturally clear those weeds," said Ben Horsely, spokesperson for the district. “These goats, these employees of ours, work really hard and they eat a lot.
"They're very hungry and they do an amazing job.”
The school district has been using this type of vegetation clearing for the last five or six years, and it has become a smart solution to maintaining school grounds across the district.
“When you're always looking at your budget and your bottom line is really tight, you've got to find ways to save money,” explained Horsely. “These are public properties and we get a lot of use out of these fields. People come walk their dogs up here and when they're not being used as schools, we have a responsibility to keep the property up.”
For nearly two weeks, over 100 goats have been at work clearing fields at the Millcreek school. The grounds the goats are working are areas that students usually play on when school is in session, and the animals have taken to the job with gusto, offering a safer solution to keeping the ground neat and tidy.
“Manpower alone is comparable to the goats itself,” Horsely said. “And so it's either a goat doing the work, and they enjoy it and they eat it, or we gotta bring in crews to do that, or we're using harsh chemicals which can be very detrimental.”
