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Merle Rogers, Allegheny GoatScape\u2019s operations manager, checks on goats at Healcrest Urban Farm on Nov. 7, 2025. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n
Allegheny GoatScape is hoping locals will step in this holiday season to help bridge the gap to another busy summer of tackling overgrown hillsides and riverbanks. Rogers says the GoatScape team is passionate about removing invasives and the animals who do much of the heavy lifting, but they note the work can be \u201cphysically demanding\u201d for both two- and four-legged staff. Allegheny GoatScape has thus hired more human workers, Rogers says, who can tackle Pittsburgh\u2019s topography when the goats work a difficult site, thereby taking pressure off of the nonprofit\u2019s corps of volunteers and staff members, including Rogers and founder and executive director Gavin Deming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been this narrative in the past that we have the goats because they\u2019re going where people can\u2019t go, and what we have found is that people still need to go there in order to care for the goats,\u201d Rogers says.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re essentially trying to build up our staff capacity so that it does not all fall on one or two people all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Gavin Deming, executive director of Allegheny GoatScape, poses for a portrait on Dec. 17, 2025. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n
The organization also hopes to grow its educational programming, in part by using retired goats such as Legs, who has \u201ctendon issues\u201d and \u201ca really big personality,\u201d as teaching animals at Healcrest Farm in Garfield. Legs lives up to his name: \u201cHe needs a leg brace,\u201d Rogers says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without more support \u2014 in Legs\u2019 case, literally \u2014 he and the herd could face a challenging winter, Rogers says. The organization is therefore preparing for winter fundraising, where locals can chip in to buy Legs a special $900 brace, offset staffing costs, and even feed their Christmas trees to the goats once the holiday season starts to wind down.<\/p>\n
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Legs the goat waits to eat pumpkins at Healcrest Urban Farm on Nov. 7, 2025. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n
\u201cCleaning up their poop, that\u2019s a large part of our operating costs in the winter,\u201d Rogers tells City Paper. The donkeys Hobo, Diamond, Sunshine, and Pete, who each supervise and protect a team of goats, need their own special care offsite. \u201cEssentially, these are like teeny, tiny horses that have their own needs, too. So that is another expense: in the winter, the donkeys don\u2019t live with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allegheny Goatscape will host two Christmas-tree donation events on Sat., Jan. 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Healcrest Farm and another on Jan. 17 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 447 Marshall Ave. on the North Side. Visitors will be able to meet the goats, sip Commonplace coffee and hot cocoa, and explore volunteering opportunities while the goats enjoy their Yuletide buffet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love to eat the Christmas trees,\u201d Rogers says. \u201c[It] really makes their breath so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n
Rogers encourages tree donors to contribute what they can financially on a sliding scale \u2014 and to ensure their trees are free of tinsel, ornaments, or pigment so the goats can chow down. The nonprofit is also selling merch<\/a>. Any proceeds will go to feeding and housing animals and paying Allegheny Goatscape staff for their work come 2026, Rogers says.<\/p>\n \u201cI love these animals so much, and our staff are so dedicated and committed,\u201d Rogers says. \u201cWe can\u2019t do our work without the goats, but also we can\u2019t have the goats without staff, so that\u2019s really important to me \u2014 that we\u2019re supported, too.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/121625_AGS-4.jpg\")
Goats take a nap at Healcrest Urban Farm on Nov. 7, 2025. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n