Weed-Eating Goats Return To Cheyenne

Teams of goats that eat vegetation, including noxious weeds, are back in Cheyenne again this summer, according to a news release from the City of Cheyenne.

City Public Works Director Vicki Nemecek said the goats perform an important service by eating vegetation in creek beds and helping to keep floodwaters down. The animals eat noxious weeds and other plants.

By cutting down on invasive weeds that can take over a watershed area, the seeds are then spread to a wider area. The overall effect is to reduce flood danger. Nemecek said that while the city could hire people to manage the weeds, the goats are much cheaper. She says there will be two herds of goats.

One will start out at Dry Creek and Dell Range and move east. The second herd will be located in the area of Crow Creek and the Ames Avenue Underpass.

The goats will be confined to certain areas using trained Border Collies and a portable electric fence and will be here for about a month. The goats have been brought in several times in recent years, including in 2017