LaCrosse conducting urban goat grazing trial period

-Walter Taylor photo

Goats graze a vacant lot in LaCrosse

The Town of LaCrosse is still in the process of determining where it stands on allowing goats and sheep in town for the purpose of grazing. The town has been in a trial run to determine if it will allow the practice.

“We didn’t change any ordinance at this time, but we’re allowing the guys from Endicott to bring goats to town every day to graze,” said Mayor Randy Camp.

The town council voted in April to allow Walter and Ashlee Taylor from XT Goat Co. of Endicott to bring their goat grazing business to town for a 30-day trial period.

“He comes early in the morning, and he picks them up at night,” said Camp. “It’s all during the day time so nobody has to deal with loud goats at night.”

Camp said right now the goats are concentrating on one lot.

“We’ll try this for a while and see how well it works for the clearing of the lot,” said Camp.

The council will be discussing the results at the next town council meeting, which is next Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at the town hall.

“We’ll discuss it for a while and see where it’s going to go from there,” said Camp.

Camp said an ordinance could potentially be passed at the next meeting, but he also said the trial period could continue before any ordinance is finalized.

“Each month when we have council meetings, we will have discussions on people’s reactions,” he said.

The town council last year allowed a resident to bring a sheep to town for grazing, and a public forum was held to gather input from the community in March to discuss the potential of passing an ordinance in favor of the practice. A survey was also posted at the LaCrosse Post Office. The survey results were mostly favorable, with 39 stating they would be okay with their neighbor having sheep or goats on their property and 20 indicating they would not be okay with it.

Camp said that if an ordinance is passed to allow goats and sheep, it will be strictly for grazing purposes.

“We’re not considering allowing goats in town as pets or for general purposes,” he said.

The town currently has an ordinance that requires all weeds, grass and other uncultivated vegetation be cut and disposed of at least once per month from April to September.