"It's awesome to get to be out there and see that juxtaposition of having these grazing, range-land animals alongside Cerrillos Road with Allsup's in the background," Peggyjoy Hodgen told the Santa Fe Reporter in August 2024, when she was director of horticulture for the Railyard Park Conservancy. The animals are coming back on Saturday, October 31, for the Conservancy's Halloween Graze. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 11 a.m. to noon you can have your picture taken with a member of the Horned Locust herd. Bring your own camera. Costumes are encouraged, and "Goats & Sheep This Way" signs will point you to the flock.
The costumes and photos are the fun part, but the animals come to work. They're the crew for a long-running restoration project on the park's native grassland, and the Halloween event is the most public day of that work.
The Herd Has a Job Description
The Conservancy calls the program Graze Days. It's "an ongoing restoration project" run by the Railyard Park Conservancy and the Quivira Coalition, in partnership with the City of Santa Fe and Horned Locust Goatscaping. The sheep and goats are one tool among several. The Conservancy pairs them with reseeding, composting, removing invasive species and mowing less, all aimed at the park's 2.5 acres of native grassland.
Location matters here. The Reporter put the grazing on the native grassland along the northern end of Cerrillos Road. That's the edge of the park where the flock sits beside traffic, which is the scene Hodgen was describing.
In that same 2024 story, Hodgen said monsoon rains were helping the grasses and trees but also feeding "a lot more Tree of Heaven and [Siberian] elm out there that are growing faster than we can stay on top of them." That's where the goats come in. Both species are fast-growing invasives, and a hand crew can't keep up with them in a wet season.
What the Hooves Do That a Mower Can't
What the animals eat is only part of it. The Conservancy says hoof action, grazing and recycled manure nutrients improve soil health organically, and it ties that directly to keeping the park's drought-tolerant plantings healthy.
In the 2024 Reporter story, Hodgen explained how that works. The goats press down the soil and leave small divots that catch rainfall. Their manure works as fertilizer. Healthier soil takes in more water. "By not having bare ground, by eliminating compaction, by allowing that natural fertilizer more root structure, the better water can percolate into the soil," she said. She added that the animals "can come in and, in one day, have a really big impact in an area."
The Santa Fe New Mexican's coverage of the 2024 grazing described the same process. The flock stimulates the native grassland, presses seeds into the soil and helps it hold water, and the trimming makes room for fresh growth.
Hodgen tied the stakes to the whole city. "The more water we can store in our soil, the more resilient and healthy our entire city's going to be," she told the Reporter. In 2024 the work was partly funded by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture's Healthy Soil Program. That program's principles include keeping soil covered, maximizing biodiversity and keeping a living root in the ground.
So the plan amounts to this. A park built to get by on little water handles its weeds with animals that leave the ground better at holding the water it gets.
Whose Goats These Are
Horned Locust is a local business. The New Mexican's 2024 story named Tom Berto and his wife, Amanita Thorp Berto, as co-owners. An earlier New Mexican profile placed the family on a rented 70-acre property near San Marcos and Cerrillos, with jobs ranging from Albuquerque to Taos, including properties in Eldorado and Sandia Heights. If you've seen goats clearing brush down the road in Eldorado, there's a fair chance they came from the same outfit.
In 2024, Thorp Berto told the Reporter why she thinks the approach works. "Plants and animals evolved together, and in situations where they've diverged, things just go wrong," she said. "You get an overabundance of weeds, you don't have the fertility or the good bugs or the support for fungus. Goats bring that all back." She also described the public side of the work. "It brings neighborhoods together. Neighbors come out and meet each other," she said, adding that Saturdays tend to draw kids and families.
Third Visit of the Year
The Halloween Graze is the flock's third scheduled stop in the park this year. Here are the 2026 dates the Conservancy and the Railyard have posted:
| Date | Day | Hours | Listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 2026 | Saturday | 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Graze Days |
| October 7–8, 2026 | Wednesday–Thursday | From 10 a.m. | Graze Days |
| October 31, 2026 | Saturday | 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Halloween Graze |
Because the October 31 visit comes just three weeks after the early-October days, it's an easy chance to see a recently grazed patch of grassland and the flock working at the same visit. The Conservancy describes the October 31 event as "Graze Days, Halloween style," with treats on hand.
If you'd rather help than watch, the Conservancy's Yardmasters program runs year-round as drop-in volunteer mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Rest of That Saturday on the Railyard
Halloween falls on a Saturday, so the flock shares the morning with the Santa Fe Farmers' Market. The Saturday market runs year-round from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Market Pavilion, 1607 Paseo de Peralta. Here's one way to plan the day:
- 8 a.m. The Saturday farmers' market opens at the Market Pavilion.
- 10 a.m. The Halloween Graze begins in Railyard Park. Follow the signs to the herd.
- 11 a.m. to noon Photos with a member of the Horned Locust herd.
- Afternoon SITE Santa Fe has fall exhibitions that opened October 16. Larry Bell: Improvisations and Sayre Gomez: Closed Forever run through January 11, 2027, and Sara Genn: How to Build a Sky runs through February 14, 2027.
- 3 p.m. The graze wraps up.
El Museo Cultural, at 555 Camino de la Familia, posts its visiting hours month by month, so check its site before heading over on November 1. The Railyard Artisan Market is a year-round Sunday market.
After the Flock Leaves
The calendar stays busy into November and December. SITE has Tessellations dance performances on November 5 and 7. On November 14, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Larry Bell gives an Innovative Thinker talk in the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Auditorium.
The Tuesday Railyard farmers' market, which runs 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., ends its season on December 22. After that, the Saturday market carries on through the winter.
For more on how the district works through the year, see our look at what August actually looks like in the Railyard and our Guadalupe Historic & Railyard neighborhood guide. The Conservancy's Graze Days page has the program in its own words.
We like having a park downtown that brings in livestock to help its grassland hold water, and we like that the public gets to come watch. If you're walking over from the market on Halloween morning and want to talk about the Railyard, or about any Santa Fe neighborhood you're considering, Reagan Nickelson & Mary Guzman would be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.
