Medford City Council approves goats on golf course

Medford, Ore. – At tonight’s Medford City Council meeting, some business owners were approved for an unconventional way to clear brush around their properties. This means, the bear creek golf course is adding two new employees to their staff.

Goats will essentially act as lawn mowers and reduce blackberry and other vegetation that can be a fire risk for the course. Medford land development code currently prohibits livestock on any property not zoned for agriculture. However, the council has approved this unusual method before on the Bear Creek Golf Course.

But, don’t expect this to be so out of the ordinary in the near future, goats will eat anything in their path, so they’re a useful way to control the hazardous brush and avoid using mechanical lawn mowers.

“One of the reasons may be that right now it’s late enough in the season and dry enough that it is sometimes dangerous to do mowing through mechanical means, there’s a fire risk associated with that,” said Sr. Assistant City Attorney, Erick Mitton. “I think in this part of the year, is the fire risk involved.”

There will only be two goats on the course… So one doesn’t get lonely because they’re social creatures. The council will revisit this ordinance in one year to see if the goats were useful.

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