Friday Morning Look At My Neighborhood Goatscaping

This morning, before the sun arrived to do its daily illumination duty, I read an article in Texoma's Homepage about my new neighbors, a big flock of vegetation chewing goats.

After reading the article I updated yesterday's My Wichita Falls Neighborhood Invaded By 100s Of Goats blog post about the goats.

When the sun finally arrived this morning, I looked out my bedroom window and saw no goats.

But, I had just read that the goat flock would be spending their nights penned in on Holliday Creek. So, I assumed they were on the side of the creek not visible to me from my window vantage point.

That the goats were there was confirmed when I saw people walking and biking on the Circle Trail, stopping to get their phones out to take photos of what I assumed had to be the goats I could not see.

So, I attired myself sufficiently for outdoor exposure and went to check on the goats.

This morning, I opted to photo document the warning sign advising CAUTION! due to an ELECTRIC FENCE.

I do not see how that fence could possibly be electrified. What's the power source? Where is the insulation keeping the wire from being grounded? Having been electrified by an electric fence, more than once, during my childhood years, I did not opt to touch the fence to test my theory that the fence was not actually electrified. 

 And here you see some of the goat flock, vertical and chewing the scenery after a good night's slumber.

In this morning's Texoma's Homepage goat article I learned that the Goatscaping scenery chewing is going to go on for several weeks.

My Wichita Falls Neighborhood Invaded By 100s Of Goats

This September Friday afternoon, around 4, I looked out my kitchen window and found myself surprised to be seeing goats. 

Six or seven goats.

Weeks ago, or was it months, I recollect reading that some local goat herder was going to be herding a few goats on the slopes of Holliday Creek to cut down the excess vegetation in an environmentally friendly way.

But, no goats showed up, til today.

The Circle Trail runs adjacent to Holliday Creek, at my location. My vehicle is parked adjacent to the Circle Trail.

In other words, it was a short walk to get a close up look at the goats.

Well.

Imagine my surprise when the full scope of the size of the goat herd came into view.

Not six or seven goats, but what looked to be maybe a couple hundred goats, on both sides of the creek.

The goat version of barking is a pleasant sound when it is dozens of the barkers doing the bleating. The goats seemed to be having a mighty fine time.

A temporary electric fence, well, what the signage claimed to be was an electric fence, with a warning not to touch, or try to pet the goats, kept the goat herd from venturing on to the Circle Trail seeking greener pastures.

Above you can see the temporary electric fence crossing Holliday Creek, blocking the goats from heading north

Traffic over the Holliday Creek Southwest Boulevard bridge was being affected by the surprising spectacle.

The crowd of goat lookers continues to grow.

In a town a tad shy of interesting tourist attractions, this goat herd should provide one for its duration.

If only the town had an actual local news covering newspaper that would let the locals know there is something to take the kids to see at Weeks Park. Lots of parking at that park, easy to find, accessed off Southwest Boulevard, just drive past the fire station. 

Are the goats staying overnight? There was no visible goat hauling vehicle to be seen. It must have required multiple such vehicles to haul so many goats.

UPDATE:

Local NBC TV, KFDX, also has an online version, Texoma's Homepage, which is actually what amounts to being a good local news source, unlike the online version of Wichita Falls only print version of a newspaper, known as the Wichita Falls Times Record News.

This Friday morning Texoma's Homepage has an article, and video, about my neighborhood goat invasion...

City of Wichita Falls deploys goats to tackle tall grass

The article, in its entirety (minus the video)...

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The City of Wichita Falls welcomed lots of little landscapers to help combat tall grass Thursday morning.

On Thursday, September 18, about 500 goats and some sheep were set loose along the shore of Holliday Creek near Weeks Park to enjoy an acre-sized buffet of tall grass.

City of Wichita Falls public information officer, Chris Horgen, said ‘Goatscaping’ is a viable option to get into places mowers can’t. The goats will be grazing around-the-clock for two to three weeks, and Horgen said the benefits go beyond being eco-friendly.

“It’ll reduce wildfire. You know, it’s a wildfire mitigation tool because we’re gonna get some of this high grass that’s fuel for wildfires in the winter to come down, with this, because they’ll eat these to the roots,” Horgen said. “This will be everything that’s behind us that these goats and sheep are eating will go to the roots of the ground.”

Horgen said an electric fence and a shepherd dog are on hand to keep the four-legged grass munchers from getting into trouble.

Officials ask residents to keep their distance and to keep pets away from the goats and sheep. The goats are corralled in a one-acre area at a time and will be visiting for a few weeks.