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Goats to help get weeds under control in midtown neighborhood

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TUCSON, Ariz. -- About 15 goats will be heading to a midtown neighborhood as a test to try and get weeds under control.

Garden District Neighborhood will be having a Stomp & Chomp Goat Fest on Wednesday, January 9th.

A herd from Urban Grazers will graze one of the neighborhood easements. The goats have been working with Pima Country and grazing the Santa Cruz River focusing on controlling Bufflegrass. That is said to be highly invasive and an extremely flammable weed grass.

Now, the goats are heading into a neighborhood which is an experiment. According to Meg Johnson, who sent out the news release, the residents along this portion of the Desmond/Justin easement were supportive of the project and were willing to be "guinea pigs" as the first to try organic weed control in the neighborhood through grazing goats. Many of the residents who back up to the easement contributed $25 to cover the costs of hiring the herd.

The fest will be near Grant and Alvernon, specifically the easement between Justin and Desmond starting at Village and going west towards Alvernon to the mid-block north/south cut through easement. The goats will work their way down the easement grazing and take a mid day rest where they will lie down and drink water. After resting, a news release says they will then get back to eating.

It is not known how long the process will take, but organizers say the goats will be unloaded as early as 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.