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Here's why 250 goats are roaming around Green Mountain

The goats are hungry and much better for the environment than using herbicides and machinery to kill invasive and non-native plants in the area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colorado — If there’s one thing goats just cannot stop doing, it’s eating.

They eat, they eat some more and then they eat even more. 

And when it comes to attacking weeds, non-native plants and invasive plant species, all that appetite is a good thing.

That's according to Bridger Rardin, who is in charge of herding the goats for Goat Green, a business that uses goats to help maintain the land. 

“They’ll eat just about everything,” Rardin said. “We fence them into specific areas where we want them to eat certain types of plants.”

Credit: KUSA

A herd of goats on the side of Green Mountain near C-470 and Interstate 70 is doing just that — 250 of them are eating away at weeds and other plants that hurt the environment.

The City of Lakewood said it brought the goats in as an environmentally friendly alternative to herbicides and machinery.

“The goats are doing 15 different things at once,” said Lani Malmberg with Goat Green.“They eat, they fertilize the soil, and [they] even irrigate the soil. They only target the plants that are unhealthy for the environment.”

Credit: KUSA

Malmberg said the goats will eat for about two hours, then stop to rest and drink, then eat some more.

The goats will stay on Green Mountain for about a week, before moving to other pastures in need of their endless appetites.

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