I've often seen this done. The Hetch Hetchy pipeline operator uses it to clean up their right of way, which goes up, down, and through hills. Someone puts up a temporary electric fence around the right of way, and they truck in about a hundred goats. The goats graze everything down to bare dirt, and are then moved on to the next section.
I've seen this done with sheep, too. Those are easier to herd but not as agile on rough terrain.
If you're talking about the Listings page, it'll probably display as blank if you have Javascript disabled. It loads a rather large accordion list per-state after the page loads.
My office landlords hired some goats (not from this company) to tame some overgrown bushes by a river. They arrived in a gutted school bus (which is where they slept over night). As far as I could tell, the procedure is: set up fence around area to be eaten, let out goats, and let them wander and eat for a few days. The end result wasn't very pretty, but it was remarkably effective.
From the perspective of the goats it must feel like they're on a luxury cruise. They get whisked around to new locations every day, they get out and gorge themselves on food, then back on board to the next location and plant buffet tomorrow. Nice lifestyle!
Hiring goats is one of the best methods to fight bush growth, especially if you clamp the high ones so the goats can reach everywhere. Sawing down on the other hand only gives more sprouts and stronger roots for the next years.
Lawrence Berkeley National Labs uses goats to tame the brush on the steep slopes surrounding the campus (over 45 degrees in many places). More than once I've had to wait on a bus for the herd of goats to transition across the main access road from one slope to the other.
They're pretty common in most of the East Bay hills. I've always wondered how many different herds there are though. Is it like 1-2 herds per city that move around constantly, or are there dozens of herds that spend a week vacationing in the big city every couple of months before they go back to the farm?
In Britain, because they're classed as farm animals you'd need a Movement Order from DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to take one onto a public road, unfortunately.
We've got a service in Western New York (letsgoatbuffalo.com, clever play on Let's Go Buffalo!). They used an old school bus to transport the goats, which sadly burned down. But, the Western New York community raised $16,000 via a go fund me for a new bus!
I have property in a pretty rural area (Anza, CA) and every goat owner I know says that they're actually picky eaters. But these articles I see pop up now and then pretty much prove the opposite...
Yep, my neighbours keeps goats next to my propery, they escape once in a while. They go directly to the soft greens in my garden. When the fences hold they eat the area clean by type as you say. First the grass, then the leves of the small trees, then the bark (killing the small trees). Only when there is nothing else left will they eat the nettles.
I'm not familiar with goats. But this got me thinking: why would the goats even do that? Are they not well-fed? Are they hungry all the time? Do goats eat and poop 24/7 if left unchecked?
Yes. Many grazing animals are like this. It's like they have no "feeling full" in their tiny brains. Grass and leafs are not very calorie dense so they kind of have to.
Cows or horses can easily eat themselves sick if they are let into high grown grass fields. Where I live the horse owners will sometimes cut the grass in the fields before they let the horses go to it in the spring.
I have goats. They are picky eaters. They know what they want and what they don't. They will strip most trees and bushes to the branch. They will eat most grass, but not if it's too tall or has gone to seed or is too dried out. And they'll only eat it down to about 3-4 inches from the ground. There are certain plants I dig out of my pasture because the goats just won't eat them and I don't want them spreading and taking up more space.
There's truth that goats will put most things in their mouths. Almost every time I bring something new into their pen, they check to see if it's food. They'll even check me every now and then just to be sure I haven't become food in the past week. So, sure, you might see a goat pick up a tin can for a brief moment, but you'll also see it spit it out 5 seconds later.
My gf and I have a plot and are considering goats. There are trees there though, full grown conifers. Will they be at risk? No tree likes it to be stripped of its bark.
I recently got into goats. Already have cows, chickens, and pigs on my hobby farm. Goats are without a doubt the most picky. I use pigs and goats for pretty much the same things, land clearing then food. Pigs are pure freaking destroy everything and then still eat what feed you give them. They also tear the crap out of the dirt, but they taste really good.
I agree goats are picky the point that if you keep an on them you can catch them before they tear up anything you want to keep(apple/peach trees). Another thing is goats are just dang fun. Pigs and cows are friendly in a dull sort of way, goats have character & personality. One of my goats will come out of his pen nightly just to hang around with me and the kids. When it gets tired of us he puts him self back in the pen.
I've got three goats. They're picky, but mine have a pretty good amount of space and a variety of stuff to eat. They've each got their favorites, but crunchy dry cottonwood leaves and our dominant dandelion-alike are at the top of each list.
If you're using goats to clear land, you put more goats per space than the land can sustain, but just for a few days or weeks. The goats will eat their favorite things first, but then also other paletteable stuff. They'll also trample things down pretty good.
Uhm, goats are by far the cheapest way to clear out certain kinds of brush and noxious plants. They're also cute and act like dogs.
Pesticides are dangerous and still leave a dead plant, machines jam (and lop off fingers,) doing it by hand takes a long time and can risk major rashes from poison ivy or cuts from thorns.
Part of my back yard is impenetrable from the kinds of plants goats eat.
I think he has a point there. If he did not pay for, it may be an even trade.
You'd just have to compare the cost per acre per month of machine maintenance vs the cost to maintain a well fed flock for a month; including land costs and property taxes if you own the land.
> I think he has a point there. If he did not pay for, it may be an even trade.
Not really - the cost of food for goats is fairly marginal all things considered. For this kind of service you have to account for transport, setup (usually fencing of some sort has to be put up), etc. as well as ongoing medical and shelter costs for when they aren’t working.
You still need to operate one with a human, and goats don’t have a minimum wage.
(Also, because their method of destruction is eating, they also go for root systems and clear them whole; this is a very important feature in my area, as they’re used to kill blackberry, which does not die if you leave the roots.)
You prefer two stroke gasoline engines (Very environmentally unfriendly) vs goats because???
I've never seen city employees using "electric mowers"??? Probably because the battery life is simply useless for anything beyond a small yard?
On top of this, you prefer to pay unionized city worker wages to remove weeds instead of an environmentally friendly goat do it for almost nothing?
I saw 2 city workers trying to clear an area the other day. 3 hours later they were still there, gasoline burning trimmers screaming away. I'd say they had at lest a day of work left. Two workers, there all day - probably a few tanks of gas as well...
Personally, i'd prefer they had Goats as an option.. but that is just me.
There's going to be poop everywhere and potential damage if they aren't confined. They'll climb and gnaw on everything and anything. The goats will be spreading the weed seeds.
I'm not saying they are bad, I'm just saying you're being a schmuck if you pay someone to have their goats graze on your land.
It really is - because not only is it hilarious, it also highlights just how difficult modern farming has become - razor thin margins, at the whims of the weather, dealing with vandlism from local youths with nothing better to do etc. etc.
When was farming not on razor thin margins at the whims of the weather? At least US history is full of sharecropping where the farmers barely making ends meet and those with enough capital to own their own small farms not doing much better. Some of those who owned a lot of land with sharecroppers managed to do ok though. It's similar today, except sharecropping has gone out of style, I think. Big farms and little farms are on very thin margins, but thin margins on a small farm mean Clarkson made like a hundred pounds or something after a year (probably ignoring his capital costs).
I second the recommendation. Don't be put off by Jeremy Clarkson and his persona, seeing a motorhead with a big ego trying to run a farm and make a profit is what makes the show. Thankfully, he's paired with someone that knows their stuff, with a sharp enough wit...
Just started watching it and it's great and hilarious! I guess one of the things that I'm enjoying a ton is that I also don't know anything about farming so I'm as surprised at Clarkson is. It's humbling (seems for Clarkson too) to see that I don't know everything...
I looked into this a couple of times for an urban-ish lot with an overgrown backyard. (I don't have a green thumb!). There were several services in my area, including the awesomely-named Rent-a-ruminant.
Unfortunately, for smaller lots, it just isn't feasible - the way the pricing is structured, the setup fees get you. They are really for multi-acre lots where they set up significant fencing and leave the goats for several days.
Here in Northern Europe they just use GPS-enabled electric collars on the goats, and do literal geofencing with that. Then you don't have any cost of setting up physical fences. Of course you have to accept that the fence position has an inaccuracy 5-6 meters, so it only makes sense for large areas where there is nothing that will kill the goat if it strays a little outside the fence.
I'm pretty sure the collars can't cause deadly harm, just discomfort. I don't know anything about implementation details, but I assume that the shock strength varies such that the goats figure out they have to turn around.
I looked into this for my yard. Unfortunately given how bad of a shape it is, it still would cost multiple thousands to clear with goats. Fortunately, it only costs a few hundred to buy some goats and do it over a longer time, with the bonus of making my niece happy.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 289 ms ] threadI've often seen this done. The Hetch Hetchy pipeline operator uses it to clean up their right of way, which goes up, down, and through hills. Someone puts up a temporary electric fence around the right of way, and they truck in about a hundred goats. The goats graze everything down to bare dirt, and are then moved on to the next section.
I've seen this done with sheep, too. Those are easier to herd but not as agile on rough terrain.
If you're talking about the Listings page, it'll probably display as blank if you have Javascript disabled. It loads a rather large accordion list per-state after the page loads.
Hiring goats is one of the best methods to fight bush growth, especially if you clamp the high ones so the goats can reach everywhere. Sawing down on the other hand only gives more sprouts and stronger roots for the next years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQEFH_8fka4
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/local-goatsc...
And, yes, my cousin's goat business is listed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32191666
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sheep-and-goat-keepers-how-to-re...
(Yeah, I'd once looked into using a 'goat and cart' as a from of transport!)
It does seem a bit like bee torture though.
> It does seem a bit like bee torture though.
Agreed. Though I'm not sure how simple a brain has to be before I can stop caring, I prefer to opt on the side of caution.
(A nice example of comments drifting away from the putative topic)
Not animals you want around flora you care about.
Yes. Many grazing animals are like this. It's like they have no "feeling full" in their tiny brains. Grass and leafs are not very calorie dense so they kind of have to.
Cows or horses can easily eat themselves sick if they are let into high grown grass fields. Where I live the horse owners will sometimes cut the grass in the fields before they let the horses go to it in the spring.
There's truth that goats will put most things in their mouths. Almost every time I bring something new into their pen, they check to see if it's food. They'll even check me every now and then just to be sure I haven't become food in the past week. So, sure, you might see a goat pick up a tin can for a brief moment, but you'll also see it spit it out 5 seconds later.
I agree goats are picky the point that if you keep an on them you can catch them before they tear up anything you want to keep(apple/peach trees). Another thing is goats are just dang fun. Pigs and cows are friendly in a dull sort of way, goats have character & personality. One of my goats will come out of his pen nightly just to hang around with me and the kids. When it gets tired of us he puts him self back in the pen.
If you're using goats to clear land, you put more goats per space than the land can sustain, but just for a few days or weeks. The goats will eat their favorite things first, but then also other paletteable stuff. They'll also trample things down pretty good.
Pesticides are dangerous and still leave a dead plant, machines jam (and lop off fingers,) doing it by hand takes a long time and can risk major rashes from poison ivy or cuts from thorns.
Part of my back yard is impenetrable from the kinds of plants goats eat.
You'd just have to compare the cost per acre per month of machine maintenance vs the cost to maintain a well fed flock for a month; including land costs and property taxes if you own the land.
Not really - the cost of food for goats is fairly marginal all things considered. For this kind of service you have to account for transport, setup (usually fencing of some sort has to be put up), etc. as well as ongoing medical and shelter costs for when they aren’t working.
Where I live they get used a lot on highway embankments.
(Also, because their method of destruction is eating, they also go for root systems and clear them whole; this is a very important feature in my area, as they’re used to kill blackberry, which does not die if you leave the roots.)
You prefer two stroke gasoline engines (Very environmentally unfriendly) vs goats because???
I've never seen city employees using "electric mowers"??? Probably because the battery life is simply useless for anything beyond a small yard?
On top of this, you prefer to pay unionized city worker wages to remove weeds instead of an environmentally friendly goat do it for almost nothing?
I saw 2 city workers trying to clear an area the other day. 3 hours later they were still there, gasoline burning trimmers screaming away. I'd say they had at lest a day of work left. Two workers, there all day - probably a few tanks of gas as well...
Personally, i'd prefer they had Goats as an option.. but that is just me.
I'm not saying they are bad, I'm just saying you're being a schmuck if you pay someone to have their goats graze on your land.
Get your own grazers or let them do it for free.
Unfortunately, for smaller lots, it just isn't feasible - the way the pricing is structured, the setup fees get you. They are really for multi-acre lots where they set up significant fencing and leave the goats for several days.
[0] https://www.goatops.com/