{"id":18442,"date":"2025-07-30T22:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T04:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/goats-in-town-dolores-rethinks-livestock-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:04:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:04:45","slug":"goats-in-town-dolores-rethinks-livestock-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/goats-in-town-dolores-rethinks-livestock-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Goats in town: Dolores rethinks livestock rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"After
After a discussion on allowing goats into town by the Dolores Board of Trustees Monday, the very next day saw a weigh-in for the goats at the Montezuma County Fair. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Goats as lawn mowers? Dolores may give livestock greater leeway with possible changes ahead to town rules.<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s workshop, the Board of Trustees discussed the idea of altering the current status of Dolores as a \u201cnon-livestock town\u201d to one where certain cases could allow farm animals \u2013 namely goats \u2013 to take on the role of helpful neighbors, or yard appliances.<\/p>\n

While discussing the use of goats as grass-munching lawn mowers, trustees weighed both the up and down sides, ultimately agreeing that more research would be needed to alter local regulations.<\/p>\n

The trustees\u2019 discussion came after one resident requested bringing goats in to mow his yard. The hoofed animals are commonly used as convenient living lawn mowers.<\/p>\n

Beyond lawn-mowing, goats can also serve as a source of fertilizer and milk, Trustees said.<\/p>\n

Still, allowing them into town would be \u201ca slippery slope,\u201d said Mayor Chris Holkestad.<\/p>\n

\u2018A non-livestock town\u2019<\/div>\n

Current rules for Dolores effectively say that livestock cannot be kept within 200 feet of other properties<\/a>. In a small town like Dolores with neighbors just next door, that means keeping livestock isn\u2019t viable.<\/p>\n

Poultry get an exception. Homes can have up to six hens, so long as they\u2019re kept in enclosures. Roosters aren\u2019t allowed.<\/p>\n

Four-legged, hoofed critters are another story. Allowing goat lawn mowers would require a change in ordinance, said Town Manager Leigh Reeves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens if that goat gets out and gets hit by a car?\u201d Reeves said.<\/p>\n

Other inconveniences mentioned included goats keeping people up at night with their bleats or causing havoc in nearby yards.<\/p>\n

How to shelter the goats was another point made. Barns might be needed, some trustees said.<\/p>\n

The sounds and smells of farm life also aren\u2019t for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I don\u2019t want to smell goats,\u201d said Reeves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want a goat next door to me either,\u201d said Mayor Chris Holkestad.<\/p>\n

While Holkestad said that he loves goats, he offered an answer for Dolores residents who want goats: \u201cMove into the county.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although concerns were mentioned, trustees also pointed out the benefits.<\/p>\n

Trustee Sheila Wheeler said the high cost of food was driving more people to turn toward other alternatives, like bartering among one another with locally sourced food, say, with eggs or goat milk.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimes are changing,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cFood shortage is a real issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can become more self-sustaining whereas a community we\u2019re helping each other grow food or whatever, I\u2019m all for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trustees pointed out that they\u2019d need to do some research to learn what a town accepting of goat-assisted yard maintenance might entail.<\/p>\n

But to change the rules down the road, ultimately broader public comment would be needed, said Mayor Holkestad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a town question, not a Board of Trustees question.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trustees plan to consider amending ordinance to allow goats temporarily in town for lawn mowing-purposes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1398,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-18442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-livestock-farming","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20591,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions\/20591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18442"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=18442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}