Southern Alberta’s weed grazing goats are back at it again. Through a pilot project, they’re helping the Blood Tribe with their fight against the leafy spurge — an invasive weed threatening the diverse plant species on the reserve.
“We have such a vast amount of land here and landscape. We decided we wanted to develop a program for best management practices for the invasive plants here on the reserve and we’ve been dealing with them for almost the past eight, 10 years,” said Jarett Panther Bone, an invasive plant technician for the Blood Tribe Lands Management team.
Panther Bone says the goats are a much safer option than becoming reliant on harmful chemicals when protecting the landscape on their ancestral land.
Robert Finck, owner of Creekside Goat Company, says the goats have built quite an appetite for the spurge, spending several hours grazing the land as their stomachs remain content.
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Finck adds his first goat grazing collaboration with the Blood Tribe has been a highly positive one.
“It’s been great, we’ve loved being out here,” Finck said.
“The people have been great to work with, like we said before the fields looked like canola fields, so there’s a lot of spurge and it’s taken a lot of time to move through it and we’ve had great success with it.”
Although the vastness and wetness of the land presents some challenges, Finck says it didn’t damper any enthusiasm for the project.
“I love working out here, I love working on the reservation, also it’s close to home,” he said. “So, this is really well for me, I can keep an eye on my guys if there are any problems, I don’t have to haul as far.”
The Blood Tribe Lands Management team also carries the same sentiment and excitement.
“We hope to continue this program for the foreseeable future,” Panther Bone said.
“Especially here for the Blood Tribe because we’re really trying to protect the native grassland, especially some of the traditional plants our elders and our people here on the Blood Tribe, on the reserve, utilize.”
Finck says even the goats are respecting the traditional plants on the land — such as sage — as the furry creatures are simply preoccupied with munching on invasive weeds.
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