We meet Robert-Jan Prins and his four goats on an overgrown green strip along the railway in Gaasperdam. Three of the bucks are mainly busy with each other, but the fourth is doing what we came for: pruning the Japanese knotweed and the dike felt bramble. “Japanese knotweed is of course not an alien monster, but it can be quite annoying if it is not pruned or eaten. And this area is very suitable for our animals. The bucks love these kinds of rough, spiky areas full of branches. They find a lawn boring,” says Prins.
On other working days the goats and bucks gnaw in Abcoude and the North Holland Dune Reserve, among other places. Because of their appetite, the animals are popular with various clients, such as ProRail. “They ensure that new herbs and plants can grow again, in areas that are mainly overgrown by Japanese knotweed and dike felt bramble. And it is super nutritious for our goats and bucks. A win-win situation.”