HOUSTON (KIAH) The name of their species is more commonly used these days as an acronym for “greatest of all time.”

But goats — the actual animals — are hard at work right now clearing non-native, invasive, and otherwise unwanted vegetation from the Houston Arboretum.

“The goats dealing with the poison ivy or the thorns on certain things means that our staff members don’t have to,” the arboretum’s Senior Manager of Marketing and Development Christine Mansfield said. “So that’s really nice.”

She estimates that this is the fifth time through the years that the arboretum has brought in a herd of goats to clear land.

This time they hired Rent-A-Ruminant Texas which let loose 150 goats in a two and a half acre portion of the 155 acre nature sanctuary on the west side of Memorial Park.

They’ve been eating 24 hours a day, seven days a week since May 4, clearing the way for arboretum staff members to plant vegetation that they do want growing there.

“That makes it so we have a much better vantage point and are able to go in there and reseed to better increase biodiversity,” Mansfield said.

Rent-A-Ruminant will soon remove its goats from the arboretum as their work is almost complete.

As they’re leaving, one must ask — what about their — leavings?

“We just look at it as added fertilizer,” Mansfield said. “So it’s really not something that’s been a concern of ours.”