Tumbleweeds in New Mexico: Here’s how to manage them

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The wind is not playing around this week, and it has been blowing those New Mexico tumbleweeds around like rag dolls. In fact, some people haven’t been able to open their doors or go along with a normal schedule because of the buildup.

It’s one thing for tumbleweeds to roll across the road or pile up along fences – but plenty of people in New Mexico are struggling to get rid of them.

Scrolling through TikTok you’ll see videos of piles of tumbleweeds that tower over cattle in fields or kids holding one that is bigger than they are. One New Mexico elementary school collected a pile that went clear over their roof.

“There was still school today they just couldn’t use the door behind the pile of tumbleweeds,” the narrator of the video explained.

From Los Lunas to Clayton, this week’s storm launched a nearly endless tsunami of tumbleweeds.

Albuquerque’s Solid Waste Department says are only responsible for cleaning up tumbleweeds on roads, medians, and sidewalks. So, if they blow into your yard, this isn’t an issue you can call 311 for, you’re going to have to take care of it yourself. Or you could leave the work to someone who might enjoy it more.

“That’s another thing that we do right now, which is consume tumbleweeds, with goats!” Galloping Goat Grazing owner Max Wade said.

Max Wade, also known as Cowboy Max, owns more than 300 goats for his business, and his specialty is tumbleweeds.

He has more than half a million followers on TikTok, all of them tuning in to watch his goats do what they do best – eat!

“We have done some yards that what you are talking about a half-acre that are completely overrun with tumbleweeds and in those particular cases where you can’t hardly see the dirt because of the forest of tumbleweeds that will take us three or four days to get through,” Wade said.

So it may be quicker to clear the weeds yourself. But no matter if you take out the tumbleweeds by shovel, or by goat, Cowboy Max recommends getting rid of those tumbleweeds before they become a thorn in someone else’s side.

“We all know they grow fast they grow big then they start rolling around and create a menace for everybody,” Wade said,

In fact, Cowboy Max’s goats are booked for the weekend. They’ll be cleaning up the Mile High Little League Fields in northeast Albuquerque Friday and Saturday.