Goats ‘mow’ Eastmoreland Golf Course’s gulch

Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 27, 2024

Over the years, the ravine which bisects the 13th hole at Eastmoreland Golf Course had become overgrown with weeds and blackberries. The Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) manager and groundskeepers were uncertain just how to remove the overgrowth on the Par 5 fairway’s steep embankments.

“It was too steep for our workers to keep their footing; mowing it would require noisy, heavy equipment; we couldn’t use herbicides, because in the ravine is the fresh-water spring tributary of Crystal Springs Creek,” recalled PP&R Golf Course Maintenance Supervisor John Ball.

“But our consultants, KemperSports, suggested that bringing in goats could be the solution,” Ball told THE BEE, as we walked up to the site – surrounded by an electric fence. “We contacted ‘GoGoatOregon’ out of Hillsboro. On September 21st, ten goats, and one “guard llama” named Dewey, began dining on the weeds and tree branches there.”

Early one morning, when Ball went to check on the four-legged groundskeepers, he said: “I saw a coyote licking his lips, thinking about a fresh goat breakfast. But, Dewey wasn’t about to put up with the coyote’s plans, and quickly ran him off.”

After about three weeks, the four-fifths of an acre site was relatively brush-free, and the goats were packed up and on their way to their next assignment.

Both golf and goats start with the letter G. Turns out they work together pretty well.