Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter

PUBLISHED: Monday, August 24, 2015 at 5:25 pm

Around 60 goats and a couple sheep are busy making lunch out of weeds around the 1.5 megawatt solar array that helps power Buckman Direct Diverson’s Booster Station 2A that supplies water to Santa Fe.(Eddie Moore/Journal)
One person’s weeds are another critter’s dinner. Combine the two and you’ve got an environmentally friendly way to keep the landscape mowed.

At least that’s the idea behind Buckman Direct Diversion bringing in several dozen goats, along with a couple of sheep and four herding dogs, from Horned Locust Goatscaping. About 60 goats are eating their way through the fields around the solar array at the diversion project for two or three weeks.

Bonuses: The solar arrays aren’t hit by flying rocks from mowers; the weed seeds are removed to limit new unwanted plants; and the goats’ hooves help till the soil, which is enriched by their droppings. Not to mention the fact that the solar panels help provide shade for the munching nannies and billies.