Grazing goats get rainy kickoff as summer weed-eating begins

By Lethbridge Herald on June 13, 2025.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s the second rainy day of deployment for Goatherd Trent Cahoon, Chance the Border Collie and their unit of 205 goats in Indian Battle Park at the Alberta Picnic Shelter.

The grazing goats have returned for a seventh summer, to battle invasive weeds such as leafy spurge, wormwood and thistle for the City of Lethbridge.

The goats will graze three different communities over the coming weeks, starting with two weeks at Indian Battle/Botterill Bottom Parks until June 23. Then, they’ll be herded to Alexander Wilderness Park from June 23 through July 7, followed by Pavan Park from July 7 to 21. On Aug. 6, they’ll repeat the cycle, spending a week in each location to mop up any regrowth that occurs. 

The goats have been so effective over the past six summers, their range may be expanded, according to a parks representative.

“After six years, spurge in their typical grazing areas is coming up very sparse,” says Jackie Cardinal, Parks Natural Resource co-ordinator. “So, we might be able to move their buffet into the Nature Reserve, north of the train bridge, for a few days, like we did last year.”

According to Cardinal, leafy spurge is the most prolific weed in Lethbridge’s river valley system. “It’s a noxious Alberta weed. It takes over everything. It takes up space for the native plants and for the more beneficial vegetation in the River Valley. If we can get rid of the weeds, we give the native species more real estate to set seed and take off. We want to suppress the weeds, so the good stuff can come back.”

The goats do their job autonimously under the supervision and protection of a goatherd Cahoon and shepherd dog Chance. 

“Chance is the one in charge here. He does everything,” says Cahoon “This job is impossible without a dog; ff something happens to him, I can’t get the goats back to camp.”

Cahoon has set up a tent at the electrical substation, next to the pen where the goats stay at the end of their shift or during really inclement weather. Cahoon was considering returning there for a bit, because “goats don’t like rain.” 

For the past several summers, the goats have controlled invasive weeds in select areas of Lethbridge’s river valley. Since the introduction of the program in 2019, more than 750 hectares of noxious plants have been grazed.

“The first time around, it was about three-and-a-half weeks because there was a lot more to clear, but as we continued over the years, we’ve seen levels reduced down to 25 per cent of what they originally had.”

Goats are highly effective at clearing vegetation, especially on hillsides and in areas where mechanical equipment is difficult to use. Their ability to climb and reference for certain plants, like gorse and invasive species, make them valuable for both land management and wildfire prevention.

While goats are known for their curiosity and tendency to sample a wide variety of things, they aren’t truly indiscriminate eaters, as depicted in both television and movies. Goats do not eat “anything and everything.” 

They are more like picky foragers, preferring specific types of plants and roughage

“They’re actually kind of picky. They eat a lot of what they find, but they don’t eat everything. There are certain plants like toadflax. It’s kind of a really pretty yellow flower. This is also very invasive, and they hate it,” says Cahoon. “Unless they’re fenced in with a really strong electric fence and given only toadflax, they won’t touch it.”