POUGHKEEPSIE – It took 10 weeks and a number of goats from Green Goats of Rhinebeck have completed their job of controlling the vegetation under the Walkway Over the Hudson on the Poughkeepsie side.
It cost $10,440 to contract the goats, about half of what it would cost if the New York State Bridge Authority used summer maintenance crews, said authority Executive Director Joseph Ruggiero.
“We got the outcome we were looking for at a relatively low cost to clean the area under the walkway, which didn’t cause us to have any of our traditional employees get poison sumac and other issues and the neighbors were very receptive to the goats being their all summer,” he said.
The work was so cost effective that Ruggiero said the authority will hire the goats again next year to clean up the vegetation.
Before – July
After – September
