Mower goats than before

Last week we discussed the goat digestive system, in all its ruminant glory. Now that we have that background knowledge of the way a goat eats, we can get into the fun topic of how humans have made use of the goat digestive tract.

Goats have narrow mouths and because of this can be selective in what they eat. They are classified as grazers picking out certain leaves, grasses and coarse plant material to eat, as opposed to browsers like cattle and sheep that have wider mouths and tend to shuffle their noses along the ground, eating grass without discretion.

Even though goats have the potential to be picky eaters, they’re not. While many goats have a favorite food, most plant materials look appealing to goats. On production farms, the feed that goats get centers around high energy cash crops: hay, alfalfa, soybeans, etc. But in some operations, goat owners have taken advantage of goats wide appetite to feed the goats in a way that benefits both landscape and goat.

I have seen one example of this when I worked at Piney Mt. Orchard, where farmer Megan Rulli’s goats were periodically moved to areas on the farm that had large amounts of brush material. She could have taken these problem plants with a tractor, but as a treat for the goats and a more time efficient solution she instead used a movable electric fence to temporarily relocate the goats. The result was a change in scenery and a tasty snack for the goats, and a large swath of usable land for Megan.

One entrepreneur that noticed the goats’ ability to clear land had a revolutionary idea: rent out the goats as a kind of living lawnmower. This idea has had varying success across regions, but a few companies, like “Rent a Goat” seem to have sticking power. You can even go on Amazon to find a goat renting service near you  (here). These companies generally operate by sending a representative out to the property of an interested landowner, negotiating price for the area and work to be done, and supplying goats and goat care to clear the land. The suggested average is four fully grown goats per acre.

Once they are there, the goats will eat almost anything; they’ll take out the local poison ivy population and trim the grass down to a manageable length.

Goats as an alternative to mechanized lawnmowers have proven themselves as an adorable, affordable, and “green” solution to clearing land. There are some problems that arise with using goats as landscaping tools, though. One is that the prescence of high toxicity weeds, such as nightshade (which goats generally know not to eat), and/or herbicide residue could pose a health problem to the goats. They also will need a supplement of nutrients and minerals to keep optimal health, especially if the landscape in question is completely or mostly just grass. The last challenge that arrives from using goats as lawnmowers is purely ascetic: goats have no desire to make sure your lawn is pretty, and will leave chunks of a plant behind if they don’t fancy it and will paw at the ground to make soft dirt beds for themselves. Sometimes using a mix of breeds in your landscaping herd, in hopes that one type of goat will eat what another might reject, can lessen this problem.

Goats make fun and efficient landscapers. If you have goats, and you also have a weed or brush problem, it’s a good idea to get help from your goat friends! If you don’t have goats but want some for a day or week to clear your landscape, there are goats available!

One word of caution: goats are incredibly intelligent and playful animals. If you want them to trim the grass in your sculpture garden or solar panel field, be wary of jumping goats.

Sources:

http://www.goatworld.com/articles/brushcontrol/brushcontrol.shtml