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Devouring Wfeedgj
Lani Malmberg wanders the
meadow’s, hillsides and waterways of the West, hooked
staff in hand, pitting I,5<X) cashmere gaits against pock
ets of unwanted weeds that intest the landscape.
A full-time traveling goat herder with a masters degree
in weed science, slie works out of a travel camper where she
also sleeps. But Malmberg, 49, lives largely outdoors under
open skies, herding goats from one patch ot wild weeds to
another with the help of five canine companions.
'
One of Malmberg’s
canine companions
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“Bring 'em back, Bru," Malm
berg calls to Iter lead herding
dog. The Border collie jumps
out of the bushes, looks around,
then dashes to nip two strag
gling goats back toward the herd.
Task completed, Malmberg coos,
‘'That’ll do Bru." then finally
barks, “Down!” to get the hard
working dog to stop and rest.
Employees help set portable
electric fences at each new job site
before unloading the goats from
two large four-deck semi-trailers
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tlrat transport the animals. Malmberg’s day allows a lot of
free time between chores that include watering die goats
and then guiding them to new grazing plots. Occasionally
a wound needs tending or an orphaned kid needs
bottle-feeding.
Malmberg’s company, Ewe4ic Ecological
Services, has a list of repeat clients, from
municipal governments to private landown- £
ere to homeowners associations. She tends
the goats year-round, staying at each loca- HF
tion from a few weeks to several months. A #
hundred gaits can graze about an acre a day
and Malmberg’s fees start at about a dollar a I
day for each gait.
The cost of each job depends on the nature I
and location of the weeds, a subject Malmberg A
knows well. In fact, she says she’s kind of
a weed herself, living off other people's
land in any of 10 Western starts from
Kansas to < uhromia I'nlike a weed
though. Malmberg and her herd or
grazing gluts leave me land Ivrter B
than they t< iund it.
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Malmberg believes weeds are a symptom of an eco
logical imbalance, and her goats help restore the land to
a natural state. "Mv higher education mostly qualifies me
to hawk chemicals,” Malmberg says,
f-• “but I want people to know they
have better options."
Originally from Nebraska and
Hthen Wyoming, Malmberg left the
r family ranch in the late 1980 s when
poor economic conditions crippled
many small ranches. Site returned to school
at age 33, earning degrees in environmental
restoration, biology/botany, and eventually
weed science at Colorado State University.
In 1998, she launched her unique business,
borrowing money against her pickup taick
and her sons’ college savings to buy her
first 1(X) goats.
Word of Malmberg’s weed-eating
-V,v gaits spread like, well, weeds. It turns
out her service is sorely needed to
'iim’.' keep weeds from taking over huge
. ; tracts of land, especially in places
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