Goats from Kentucky State University are back on the 64-acre Goshen Campus!

Our School has had goats eating the invasive plants in the 13-acre forested area for about 5 years. They absolutely love honeysuckle, rose flora, blackberry, and a few other plants but those three we have in abundance. They have made a huge difference in our forest, so much so that we are able to have a cross-country course this fall throughout the forest!

Kentucky State University has been our partner for 4 out of the 5 years and has brought so much more to our campus in addition to the goats. From them we have regular drone pictures of the change in the canopy of our forest, help with a reforestation plan and maintenance, and many more resources that we have taken advantage of such as our 7-acres of native grasses and wildflowers. Because of our work together, KSU has learned that it is possible for them to assist other park systems and businesses such as West 6th Brewery.

Goats offer a wonderful way to approach land management without pesticides, something that is more and more important as the days come. With our goats will be an Alpaca; she is just as much of a guard as an Anatolian or Great Pyrenees dog. We need a guard animal because of the coyotes.

They typically don’t wander too far unless they are out of food, and we move the fence when food (invasive plants) gets sparse, approximately every 6-10 days, depending. Goats are food motivated, and we want them to eat up the forest, so we don’t feed them any other food while they are here. They do get a little supplement over the winter months but prefer plants over grains. The goats will stay with us until September or October, depending on how much we have to eat, and as the years accumulate, we have less and less, which is the point.

Come on out and take a visit!