Llama and friends - back on the farm for now

Billy the Ewe
Photo by Wayne Pridemore

I’m Billy the Kid and I love to eat grass

With llamas and sheep we’ll devour en masse

My dad and his friends will be part of the crew

He’s William the Goat-- did I need to tell you

Surface water facilities will be trimmed up so neat

No “environmental impact”—our Crew can’t be beat

We’ll eat all the grasses and weeds up as well

We don’t think they’re “NOXIOUS”-we think they are swell.

We’ll keep costs way down as the greens we devour

We’ll just keep on chomping in sunshine or shower

Our salads need no dressing—we like them just plain

We’ll be “eating local”—in sunshine or rain

Vegetation management crew
Photo by Wayne Pridemore

We have a new role and it makes us so proud

It’s VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—we’ll stand out in the crowd

We hear that a Shepherd will be on the premises

He will be a friend and for sure not our Nemesis

So we are so happy to be part of your plan

We’re glad to assist you the best that we can

Billy the Kid  (secretary)

Goats/Llamas/SheepChompingSocietyAlliance

--Jean Monce Bryant

Ed Portnow and Wonky from Earthcraft Services, Inc.
Photo by Wayne Pridemore

As it happens, the llama, alpacas, goats, sheep and other vegetation management workers were so efficient that they have, at least temporarily, eaten themselves out of a job. A contact in the surface water department says that:

Currently there are no animals in the City as we wait for plants to regrow. The animals were victims of their own success and will be brought back to sites in the near future as things sprout back up. This is a pilot project and as such we’re going through a learning process seeing how quickly the animals consume available plants, how the community reacts, etc.

Judging from comments to this newsletter, the herd is wildly popular, with people getting attached to individual animals (Woody, for example) and taking great enjoyment from seeing them all at work.