Milton landholder, Anthony Latta, took the drastic step of switching from beef cattle to Boer-cross goats 12 months ago to put a stop to the outbreaks of fireweed that infested his 46-hectare farm from April to September each year.

Mr Latta, his wife, Narelle, and their three boys, Matthew, Bradley and Cameron, needed a decisive remedy after having only limited success with regular herbicide applications and a 15-year campaign of pulling out the fireweed plants by hand.

“It is rampant and multiplies quickly and the seed can blow for miles, so you are never going to stop it coming in,” he said.

“If you spray it you have to spray three or four times a year.

“We used to have our boys pick it for pocket money, but that came to an end as they got older.

“We were picking two to four hours a day and sometimes more on weekends, but it kept coming in.”

Mr Latta said it all became too much for the family.

“It was either sell the farm or get goats or sheep,” he said.

Mr Latta said the goats preferred the plants young and nipped them off before they flowered and set seed.

In addition to the fireweed, they have cleaned up other troublesome weeds such as tussock and blackberry.