{"id":39096,"date":"2022-08-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/grazing-goats-offer-simple-weed-and-fire-mitigation\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:48:05","slug":"grazing-goats-offer-simple-weed-and-fire-mitigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/grazing-goats-offer-simple-weed-and-fire-mitigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Grazing goats offer simple weed and fire mitigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Goats
Goats belonging to DuranGoats, an up-and-coming holistic weed and fire mitigation business, graze on weeds Saturday at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center in Bodo Park. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Jonathan Bartley knows a thing or two about fire mitigation thanks to his four years of firefighting in Oregon. But now he is taking a hands-off approach by re-creating natural cycles of weed-thinning with the use of goats.<\/p>\n

He calls his new business DuranGoats, which he co-owns with Adrian Lacasse, and over the weekend he was letting his livestock loose at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center, a former juvenile detention center, in Bodo Industrial Park. There were about 12 goats at his disposal.<\/p>\n

Each goat in the herd is male and less than a year old, with the oldest of the group being born in March. He said they all get along well and they\u2019ve been castrated. If that weren\u2019t the case, and a female were introduced into the lot, that could cause issues.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, they frolicked around the fenced-in DeNier center yard and chomped away at weeds.<\/p>\n

Bartley said in late July, many weeds are putting energy into the flowers and topmost parts of the plants in an effort to photosynthesize sunlight and produce seeds. The flowers are what the goats go to first for an easy meal.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan
Jonathan Bartley, co-owner of DuranGoats, talks about the regenerative land management that his goats provide while grazing on weeds Saturday at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center in Bodo Industrial Park. The system is a simple one: Goats eat flowering weeds, eliminating seeds and weakening the plants; goats fertilize the soil with their droppings, allowing natural grasses to take root. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Because the goats are trimming vegetation where it is directing most of its efforts, it will take longer to recover and be less prominent over the next growing season, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEffectively, you\u2019re tricking the root system,\u201d he said. \u201cThat plant is going to grow much smaller next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bartley describes his business as a \u201csoil-first approach to regenerative land management\u201d and said soil health and sustainable, natural ways of repairing the ecosystem are top concerns.<\/p>\n

He often refers to weed and fire mitigation as a \u201cbattlefield,\u201d terminology he picked up during his time fighting wildland fires, he said. What Southwest Colorado wants as far as natural vegetation is drought-resistant grass.<\/p>\n

\"Goats
Goats belonging to DuranGoats graze on weeds Saturday at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center in Bodo Industrial Park. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIf you look at where the weeds are sprouting up, it\u2019s generally in areas where there\u2019s nothing growing there,\u201d he said. \u201cEffectively, it\u2019s dead soil where the sun is just beating down on it. Nothing could really survive there except for a weed, an invasive species that is going to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the goal of DuranGoats is to \u201cchange the pasture.\u201d That is done not just by letting goats graze to their hearts\u2019 content but also allowing them to leave a large amount of droppings, which help fertilize the soil in places that only weeds were able to grow before.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back to that battle metaphor, what we\u2019re looking at is a bunch of grass that\u2019s also seeding, but right now it\u2019s being outcompeted by the weeds,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you eliminate seed production (of weeds) you weaken these plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goat droppings fertilize soil and allow grass to grow, thus healing the pasture, he said.<\/p>\n

Bartley charges only $5 a day per goat, plus transportation fees, mainly for gas, he said. The business is still in its infancy, but by next year he hopes to have more goats. Prices might increase slightly, but customers will get more bang for their buck with more goats onsite at once, which means less overall time spent grazing.<\/p>\n

Since Bartley and Lacasse started their business venture, the goats haven\u2019t really had a day off \u2013 not that they mind. Still, if business slows down in the winter, Bartley said they have options for storing the goats in a horse trailer for shelter and are looking into wintertime services to keep them busy and well-fed.<\/p>\n

A fenced-in world<\/div>\n

\"Jonathan
Jonathan Bartley describes his business as a \u201csoil-first approach to regenerative land management\u201d and said that soil health and sustainable, natural ways of repairing the ecosystem are top concerns. That\u2019s where the goats come in via DuranGoats, the business Bartley started with co-owner Adrian Lacasse. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bartley said because of human development, many areas are fenced off from local fauna that would naturally graze on troublesome weeds and grasses. But goats are an easy way of letting nature take its course in a way that benefits the environment and the people who live nearby, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put such a heavy emphasis on spraying when it comes to weed mitigation,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what I tell people is you can spray every single weed in your yard. You can spray until you\u2019ve killed every single weed. And you\u2019re 10 years in, what you\u2019ve done is you\u2019ve killed the soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have any weeds there, but you\u2019re caught. Because as soon as you stop spraying, all it\u2019s going to take is one weed on the other side of the fence. And believe me, there\u2019s always going to be one weed on the other side of the fence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weed sprays don\u2019t just kill weeds. They kill pollinators too, Bartley said. Grazing goats do the opposite \u2013 they help balance out and heal the natural environment.<\/p>\n

Plowing and mowing are other common methods of weed and plant mitigation, but they don\u2019t replenish the soil like goats naturally do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inspiration for this project is holistic, where you\u2019re really trying to replicate the natural cycle and just do things right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Caring for the goats<\/div>\n

\"DuranGoats
DuranGoats uses young goats to graze on weeds Saturday at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center in Bodo Park. They are affectionate and calm with their owners Jonathan Bartley and Adrian Lacasse. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bartley said the goats are fairly low maintenance. They need food, water and shelter, plus a salt lick and a mineral feeder. Other than that, all they need is a bit of compassion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe let them into this area and then we go about our day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DuranGoats isn\u2019t Bartley\u2019s full-time job, at least not yet. But ideally, the business will grow into a career, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool to create an art and to follow a passion and for everyone to say, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s awesome, I\u2019m interested,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then you can make that passion into a livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

But wintertime is just around the bend, and Bartley and Lacasse are still working out what they will do this winter.<\/p>\n

Hay is always an option for feed, Bartley said, but that also costs money. He is looking into wintertime services that the goats could prove useful for. Fir trees used as Christmas decorations could provide the food source needed to last the goats through the winter, he said.<\/p>\n

Cactus spines can be less prominent during the winter as well, which might provide another source of food for goats and service for property owners, he said.<\/p>\n

Saturday marked the goats\u2019 second day at the DeNier center. In the following days they made their way around the property, eating up weeds wherever they could find them.<\/p>\n

Their next meal tickets were for an area near Elmore\u2019s Corner on County Road 243. After that, they were headed to the Twin Buttes area, and then on to Wildcat Canyon.<\/p>\n

The DuranGoat guys can be found at the Durango Farmers Market on Saturdays, on Facebook at @durangoats and on Instagram at durangotsllc.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jonathan
Jonathan Bartley, co-owner of DuranGoats, said that sometimes he feels like holistic farming techniques are the only way to really repair the ecosystem after humans have used toxic weed killers and mechanical thinning measures without giving pastures the chance to rejuvenate naturally. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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