Baby goats join Hempstead Town brush control herd

Nine tiny, four-legged workers have just been added to the Town of Hempstead's brush control program at a Merrick nature preserve.

The twin, triplet and quadruplet Nigerian dwarf goats were born over the last two weeks, pushing the town's goat population up to 14. The goats are used to eat overgrown brush and grasses in the 51-acre Norman J. Levy Park & Preserve as an ecological way to landscape.

"This has been a wonderful experiment," said Town Supervisor Kate Murray, who was on hand Sunday at the goats' enclosure at the preserve.

The town's herd began last year with five of the dwarf goats - docile creatures about the size of a Labrador retriever.

The puppy-sized kids already are leaping, snuggling with each other and making pint-size bleats. They're housed in a wooden shed at the entrance to the preserve, filled with hay and bearing the Town of Hempstead's seal.

The older goats are named after Snow White's seven dwarves, but the new additions are as yet unnamed. Members of the public who want to suggest names for the babies can do so by visiting the town's website, toh.li.

It will be several months before the new goats will be old enough to start eating away at the preserve's overgrown grasses and shrubs. In the meantime, all of them still are drinking their mother's milk - except for a small female who was rejected by "Happy," her mother.

That one is being bottle-fed goat milk around the clock. A volunteer even comes in at 3 every morning to feed her, said Michael McConnell, deputy commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, which oversees the preserve.

In addition to weeding, the goats also are "teachable moments" for kids of the human variety, Murray said.

"Especially with schoolchildren, it shows green alternatives," she said.