Herd in Detroit

This blog is no stranger to the connection between goats and bankruptcy.

A few years ago, we reported that some four-legged lawnmowers were hired during fire season at an Oakland housing project caught up in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Goat, ahem, fertilizer also played a memorable role in a bankruptcy fight between Lehman and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Now, a Detroit City Council member wants to bring the goats to cash-strapped Detroit to help cut grass in the bankrupt city’s vacant lots, according to the Detroit News.

Councilman James Tate, who floated the idea this week, says the goats can start grazing on some of Detroit’s nearly 70,000 parcels of vacant land as part of a pilot project, according to the paper. Detroit is paying $3.5 million this year to cut grass at vacant lots.

Goats, who love poison ivy and other brush, have long been used in the West as a fire-prevention tool to clear scrub land.

But in recent years cities like Washington, D.C., Portland and Chicago have all hired the urban grazers to trim grass at cemeteries, historic sites and airports.

Proponents of using goats and other animals like sheep and llamas to trim grass and shrubs say they’re a cheaper alternative—by up to 50%—to gas-powered mowers, not to mention being much better for the environment.

Mr. Tate planned to bring Laura DeYoung of Cleveland’s Urban Shepherds to pitch the council on a plan Thursday, the News said.

Write to Patrick Fitzgerald at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @PatFitzgerald1.