ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The City of Albuquerque hired a herd from Galloping Goat Grazing to clear weeds out of the bosque. It’s a job they take very seriously. 

“The specific weeds here that we’re targeting are coschia and tumbleweed,” said Max Wade, owner of Galloping Goat Grazing. “It’s tasty to them, they enjoy it. They love it, they eat it really well.”

Wade contracts out hundreds of his goats for projects like this around the state. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is leading this current project, near Coors and Montaño.

“Just a few hundred yards that way there’s a school, there’s houses, there’s businesses and there’s traffic. This area with that proximity, people are in here all the time,” said Wade. 

It’s also where a fire destroyed 30 acres in 2022. 

“When a fire comes through, it burns up the vegetation, but it also diminishes the nutrients in the soil. So the first things that are going to come back are weeds,” Wade said.  

The goats have been feasting in the bosque all week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. By the time they’re done, they’ll have cleared more than three acres.

All this munching will hopefully prevent future fires from getting out of hand. 

“We’ve been here and this is where we’re going next week same with over here, this whole thing is just – and you can see now what we were talking about fire fuel and how quickly it would go if we had that spark,” said Wade. 

The weeds are no match for the determined goats. 

“They really don’t get full, the only time the goats aren’t eating is when they’re sleeping,” said Wade. 

This is just one phase of the city’s restoration project. The project coordinator told KOB 4 they’ll cut down some of those dead, hazardous cottonwood trees next. Then, they’ll reseed and replant.