Jay Peak Resort in Vermont brought in a team of hungry ungulates to help tame overgrown vegetation on its slopes before the snow flies
Sarah Kuta – Daily CorrespondentOctober 9, 2025 10:36 a.m.
Staff at Jay Peak Resort typically spend September and October mowing and weed-whacking the slopes to get them ready for ski season. This year, however, the resort decided to try a different approach to landscaping some of its ski runs. Instead of using gas-powered equipment to tame the overgrown vegetation before the snow flies, they’re turning to a herd of hungry goats and sheep.
The animals are spending roughly five weeks at Jay Peak, a 385-acre ski area in northern Vermont not far from the Canadian border. During this initial trial period, they’re expected to clear roughly 25 acres of vegetation. But, if the pilot project proves successful, the ski area hopes to bring them back next year and increase their workload.
“With any project like this, you’re going to learn a lot, and we’ve learned a lot this year,” says Andy Stenger, director of mountain operations at Jay Peak, to WPTZ’s James Maloney. “We’ve had to pivot in a couple areas, but we’re sticking with it.”
The goats and sheep—roughly 150 of them—belong to Adam Ricci of Cloud Brook Grazing in Barnet, a small town roughly 65 miles south of the ski area. They’re outfitted with high-tech collars that are connected to a virtual fencing system, which allows Ricci to keep tabs on them and move them to new locations so they don’t overgraze.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/e0/1a/e01a162f-b2f5-4323-95d0-358d38e034e3/2025_herd-dogs_paradise-meadows_03.jpg)
If the animals start to stray too far from where Ricci wants them, their collar gives them a warning in the form of an unpleasant ringing noise. If they don’t get the message and keep wandering, the collar next delivers a light electrical shock.
The animals are slowly and steadily grazing their way through two-acre sections of the ski area, with a goal of chowing down the vegetation until it’s roughly six inches tall. A guard dog named Helios helps protect the herd from predators, reports Vermont Public Radio’s Abagael Giles.
“The goats are great at the trees and the goldenrod and the other types of brush, but the sheep really do well with the grasses,” Ricci tells Vermont Public Radio. “So by mixing the two together, we get everything covered pretty well.”
The ski area has dubbed the herd the “Chew Crew” and even made stickers for the animals’ adoring fans.
“Goatscaping” usually takes longer than conventional landscaping. However, proponents note goats and sheep don’t require any fossil fuels, and they can help reduce or eliminate the need for herbicides. The animals are also much quieter than gas-powered mowers and trimmers, so they can help cut down on noise pollution.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/5e/ba/5ebadd50-65d9-44b4-aea4-3fcd454d6d31/2025_goat_arrival_23.jpg)
Like cows and other ruminants, goats and sheep emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when they burp and fart. However, since they would be burping and farting anyway, no matter where they were grazing, the Jay Peak project will likely result in an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, since crews aren’t having to run their gas-powered mowers and weed whackers as much.
“It’s good for the environment,” Stenger tells Vermont Public Radio. “And it didn’t take a lot of convincing for us to hop on board with it.”
The goats and sheep also help reduce erosion and improve the soil’s ability to hold water, Ricci tells Amanda Swinhart and Holly Ramer of the Associated Press.
Jay Peak is not the first ski resort to try goatscaping. Last summer, Magic Mountain Ski Area, also in Vermont, hired a herd from Slippery Slope Goats, as Chris Mays reported for the Brattleboro Reformer in September 2024. Mountain Creek Resort in Vernon, New Jersey, has also used goats and sheep to clear vegetation from its slopes.
