Juanita High School will have few invasive blackberry plants on campus this school year, thanks to a little help from some four-legged weed eaters.

A team of four to six goats per day spent the last three weeks of the school year munching away at blackberries by the school, located at 10601 N.E. 132nd Street. By the time school let out June 18, the goats had helped clear close to 1,500 square feet of brambles.

The goats were on loan from Finn Hill Junior High School teacher Jill Johnson, aka The Goat Lady, who owns a goat farm in Duvall. She and her husband, Josh Farmer, rent out some of their goats to rid private residences of invasive plants like blackberries and ivy.

Johnson said she brought goats with her from the farm each day, dropping them off on her way to Finn Hill, and picking them up again on her way home. The number of goats she brought depended on which goats weren’t already hired out to work at private residences, and “who I could fit in my car.”

In addition to clearing invasive weeds, the goats also gave life science students at Juanita High School the chance to learn some of their lessons first-hand, under the supervision of science teacher Amy Mowery.

“They learned about the goats … (and) how the goats can be used for invasive species management,” Johnson said, adding that the high schoolers also helped to move the goats around on their tethers during the day, and cut down some of the picked-clean blackberry vines.

Johnson said that she plans to bring a few goats back for the beginning of the school year and eat any blackberries that have regrown.

“They didn’t get all the rootballs out, so I’m sure there’s been some growth over the summer,” she said.

For more information about goats as pest-control, visit Johnson’s Web site at www.thegoatlady.org.

Contact staff writer Christine Shultz at 253-872-6600, ext. 5056 or cshultz@reporternewspapers.com.