Calgary eyes expanded use of goats to control dandelions after $775K in extra mowing fails

Extra mowing didn't work in the short term, but grazing goats might help control Calgary's dandelions in the long term, according to a new report.

Calgary parks and roads crews spent an additional $775,000 on mowing this year in an attempt to better control the yellow-flowered weeds across the city, the report says.

The money was part of an extra $1.7 million in funding council approved in 2015 after a particularly dandelion-heavy year led to an increase in citizen complaints.

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But, after reviewing the extra work, the report says city staff "determined that an additional city-wide mowing cycle cannot effectively reduce dandelion complaints as it does not control dandelions themselves."

City staff are now suggesting a host of other ideas to control dandelions in the future, including the potential expansion of a pilot program that used goats to control invasive weeds in Confluence Park this summer.

"Although the project did not target dandelions specifically, indications suggest that the goats could be effective in controlling weed populations in certain circumstances," the report reads.

What circumstances might those be? The city wouldn't say. 

At least, not yet. CBC News asked for more information Wednesday but the city refused to provide an interview until Friday, after a committee meeting on the topic.

The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and you can watch a livestream of it here.

If the goats were to be used "more broadly" as a weed-control measure, the report notes it would likely require a bylaw amendment.

Using goats to combat dandelions was a popular idea in a survey the city commissioned.

Asked to rate the acceptability of various weed-control measures, 82 per cent of respondents gave the thumbs up (a rating of at least four out of five) to "using goats to control dandelions by eating them."

Goats were also the second-most preferred approach to dandelion control in the survey, just behind "spraying non-chemical weed killer."

But Calgarians were split, depending largely on age, on how much of a problem dandelions actually are and whether it's worth spending money on trying to eliminate them.

Most survey respondents aged 18 to 54 said they'd rather see tax dollars spent on other things, while it was the opposite for those aged 55 and over.

Similarly, most respondents aged 44 and under said they're not really bothered by dandelions around the city, while most aged 45 and over disagreed with that statement.

Click on the interactive graph below to see survey responses (the percentage of people who agree minus those who disagree), by age, to these two statements:

• "I'd rather see budget spent on other priorities than dandelion control"
• "I'm not really bothered by the appearance of dandelions around Calgary"