Union Accuses Goats of Butting In

What started as a project to control invasive plants on the campus of Western Michigan University has turned into a complaint filed by the 400-member American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

The union has filed a grievance in response to the university’s strategy to use goats to manage ground growth on 15 acres of woodland. The grievance states that the goats are devouring jobs that laid-off union workers could do.

The union has a grass-cutting contract with the university and says it should have been notified by the school of the plan to use goats to trim grass.

WMU horticulturist Nick Gooch proposed using the goats as a pilot project for controlling invasive plants on woodlots.

“The current management practice to combat these species using labor, machinery, and chemical herbicides is labor—and capital—intense and fails to improve the site to allow the native community to achieve balance and restore the ecosystem,” Gooch wrote in his proposal.

The goats consume three to five pounds of vegetation per day, according to rental company Munchers on Hooves LLC. And, they leave behind natural fertilizer.

Source: Kalamazoo Gazette