DETROIT, MI -- Idyll Farms hoped to start a goat farm in Detroit but officials rejected the idea, calling it an illegal violation of zoning laws.

Eighteen goats from the company's herd in Northport arrived in Detroit June 6. They were removed the following day at the demand of city officials.

Idyll Farms planned to fatten the goats by feeding them the plentiful unmowed grass on abandoned lots in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood throughout the summer before butchering them and selling the meet to raise money to sustain ongoing urban farming initiatives.

Since the city rejected the idea, Idyll farms says the baby goats will meet a premature demise and be butchered earlier than planned.

"The goats are currently grazing somewhere else, and will be gradually processed," a representative for Idyll Farms told MLive Detroit in an email. "They cannot return to Idyll Farms because the goats there are in a closed herd and the herders never introduce animals from the outside (or even back into) the herd."

The farm issued a brochure to neighbors prior to installing the goats, along with fencing. They used an old garage that once belonged to a since-demolished home to for storing hay and tools.

"We hope to demonstrate, through our pastured goats in Detroit, that urban farming is a feasible and constructive way to further support and engage the community," the farm said in the brochure. "Idyll Farms Detroit expects to ace as a vegetative cleaning crew, help provide jobs, clean the neighborhood and help a community bond around a mascot known for survival and resilience."

Although current zoning laws don't allow goats within the city limits, the Brightmoor neighborhood is located in a projected urban farming zone established in the Detroit Future City Project. It's not clear when or if those zoning changes will be instituted.

Idyll Farms met with a representative from the Mayor's office last week.

"The city is standing by the ordinance banning goats, and Idyll Farms has fully complied," the farm said in a statement. "We also requested a temporary reprieve to allow the goats to continue the work they started, but we were denied. We want the city to overturn the ordinance, and Idyll Farms is hopeful that its attempt at supporting urban farming in Detroit will add momentum to that effort."

Several neighbors voiced support for the project, including Jermaine Houser, 39, who lives in a home abutting the goat farm,

"I think it was a good thing, being the way it looks around here," said Houser, who lives near the short-lived goat farm. "It wasn't an expensive thing, it was someone coming putting money into the city and trying to provide jobs for people around the neighborhood.

"They would actually train people ... how to take care of them."

Idyll Farms has put the project on hold awaiting changes in the law.