How a kid called John Howard is helping fix Sydney’s weed infestation

Named for his long eyebrows that resemble a former prime minister’s, a kid called John Howard is eyeing his future as a weed destroyer and a potential propagator of native seeds.

Howard, a baby goat, his sister, Ooh La La, with three older male Boer goats, Alfalfa, Nicholas and Rambo, were deployed to remove weeds from an artificial hill overlooking surfers riding artificial waves at Urbnsurf near Olympic Park. The twin kids were along for some training – and cuddles.

Owned by northern beaches goatherd Craig Homan – who is also known as the Goatman – these goats are part of a herd that has cleared weeds and unwanted vegetation from hard-to-reach hills and gullies at schools, construction sites for the metro, and residential and commercial sites.

High on a hill with a not so lonely goatherd. Craig Homan with his goats clear a hill above the artificial surf at UrbnSurf. Credit: Janie Barrett

With goats increasingly being used as nature’s quiet weed killer, one hope is that they could become the ultimate troublepoopers, spreading native plants and destroying invasive species.

Scientists such as William Shaw from Macquarie University have been studying the goats’ faeces – a field called endozoochory that investigates the dispersal of seeds by animals.

Alfalfa, Nicholas and Rambo participated in a pilot study by Shaw where they were fed native seeds in the hope they could replace the weeds they are eating with plants endemic to that site.

It is too early for any results, and Shaw plans more tests while undertaking a doctorate.

Craig Homan is known as the goatman, and his goats are the lawn mowers weed killers used as a last resort of hills like the one at Urbnsurf at Olympic Park. Credit: Janie Barrett

Australian native seeds are notoriously hard to germinate because they often require fire or scarification. A goat’s digestive tract destroys most weeds and invasive plants, but may activate but not destroy native seeds.

Shaw, a masters student in conservation biology, hopes the goats’ digestive system could crack the hard shell of a seed in much the same way that Indigenous groups scratch wattle to germinate it.

An arborist by training, Homan, the owner of Sydney Eco Land Clearing, said he was often the “last call” when a site was too hilly, hard to reach, or too far gone.

“That’s when we get calls from golf courses and schools. There is no machinery, no noise, no poisoning or chemicals. The goats eat the seed and the entire plant, and you don’t get the entire regrowth. The ground gets better, you get fewer weeds. It never returns to how it was.”

Craig Homan’s goats, from Sydney Eco Land Clearing, are often the mower of last resort, clearing land such as this site at Sydney Metro West’s Eastern Creek precast facility. One goat can eat 15 square metres per day. Credit: Janie Barrett

Because goats have a preference for anything green with a high sugar count, they prefer to eat weeds.“They won’t go for most natives – they don’t like the flavour of the Australian bush,” he said.

Urbnsurf Sydney general manager Shaun Hutchinson said goats were a natural and sustainable source for lawn maintenance. They were “stoked” to have renamed the goats for the duration of their visit after some of the “GOAT athletes in surfing – Kelly [Slater], Mick [Fanning] and Mike [Stewart].”

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said Homan’s goats had removed weeds at the Eastern Creek facility, producing thousands of tunnel segments that will make up future Metro West tunnels.

“It took tens of thousands of workers to build Australia’s largest public transport project, but also 20 goats.”

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