PENDLETON — Seven hundred goats are munching their way along the banks of the Umatilla River, clearing brush and shrubs from the Pendleton Parkway.

The Boer-Spanish-cross nannies and kids started their work out of the public eye last week, cleaning around some water intake pumps and other areas overseen by Pendleton Public Works. This week, the goats will eat their way from one end of town to the other in full view of joggers and walkers on the riverwalk.

“There’s one herd on the north side and one on the south side working east to the ball fields,” said Pendleton Public Works Superintendent Jeff Brown.

Herders and dogs move the goats along, keeping them enclosed in portable electric mesh fencing. The animals will eat themselves out of a job in about two-and-a-half weeks and return in smaller numbers for a second pass after the shrubs put on some growth.

The goats eat at a steady clip.

“They eat about three-to-four percent of their bodyweight every day,” said Ray Holes, owner of Prescriptive Livestock Services, which owns the goats. “A 100-pound goat can eat about four pounds per day.”

Goats, known for their sturdy four-part stomachs and strong livers, eat plants that many other animals won’t touch. Able to deal with tannins and toxins that sicken other animals, they tend to go after blackberry bushes and weeds first before devouring the native grasses. That makes them the perfect weapon against the weeds and shrubs that flourish this time of year on the banks of the Umatilla River.

Holes said the terrain looks different after this winter’s flooding.

“With so much high-water damage, the area has changed since last year,” he said. “It pretty well scoured it.”

This is the fourth year in a five-year contract with Prescriptive Livestock Services for goat grazing services. The city paid $30,063 in 2017 with increases built in each year up to $33,863 in 2021.

Brown encouraged people to watch the goats from a distance.

“Don’t go inside the fence,” he said. “The dogs don’t take kindly to that.”

He said people’s dogs need to be leashed and kept away from the goats. Occasionally, an unleashed dog will jump the goat fence or get caught in it.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency require the city to maintain the riverbank and the levee and provide easy access. The fuel reduction lowers fire danger and gives city crews access to closure devices and storm drain outfalls.