OT: Goatscaping

[William]

Usually at some point during the Winter I'll go into the back 40 of the William farm and clear out a lot of the undergrowth and then during the Spring make sure I go in and take care of any new growth. Well, between all the wet weather and being constantly busy this year I didn't get to it. I don't really want to wade into all the new Poison Ivy and everything else that's popping and growing like its on PED's. A friend suggested Goatscaping (had to look that up) as a less intensive way of clearing out growth. Other than folks who already have goats, anyone else ever enlist Goatscaping services?







William

[mistermo]

I heard about this a few years ago, in Oregon. Apparently the DOT would bring in a herd of goats to eat thorned bushes that they couldn't find employees to clear. Apparently, goats liked, and could tolerate, eating thorny bushes and they cleared problematic roadside areas. Maybe in the NPR archives someplace?

[William]

I heard about this a few years ago, in Oregon. Apparently the DOT would bring in a herd of goats to eat thorned bushes that they couldn't find employees to clear. Apparently, goats liked, and could tolerate, eating thorny bushes and they cleared problematic roadside areas. Maybe in the NPR archives someplace?

I found a few GS services in the area that will come in and set up a solar electric fence around the area you want cleared and let them loose in side for a week of munching away. One of them will even leave a "Sheep" dog to watch over them while they are on duty.






William

[David Tollefson]

One of our local county parks had goats in there to clear out underbrush. Was actually a great attraction for the kids in the area.

Here's an article about it. (http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/community/puyallup-herald/ph-news/article152859579.html)

[MattTuck]

Curious what the rates are for this.

My mom just got really bad poison ivy from clearing an area, and had to stop about 1/3 of the way through. This might be a solution.

[Bwana]

my brother in law borrowed a couple goats from a neighbor to clear out a side yard he hadn't maintained. They pretty much clear cut it in one day. :eek:

[gdw]

The People's Republic of Boulder has been using them for years to clear the weeds in various areas of the city and they do a good job. The only possible downside, for dog owners, is that the dogs that guard the goats are quite protective and can view other canines as potential predators.

[vqdriver]

i see it from time to time here in socal where rugged terrain near residential neighborhoods is inaccessible for people with equipment, but needs to be cleared during brush fire season. the goats pretty much just prance around anywhere they want without issue and eat EVERYTHING. it's like clearcutting. pretty remarkable actually

[MattTuck]

reminds me of the Simpson's episode about the Bolivian tree lizard. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9yruQM1ggc)

[William]

Curious what the rates are for this.

My mom just got really bad poison ivy from clearing an area, and had to stop about 1/3 of the way through. This might be a solution.


A few I found in the area...

GoatScaping, Duxbury, MA. $5 - 700 a week depending on time of year...
http://www.gogreengoat.com

Laurel Hill Microfarm, RI. Price dependent on size of area needed cleared...
https://laurelhillmicrofarm.simdif.com

The Goat Girls, MA
https://thegoatgirls.com

Weatherlow Farms, Westport, MA
http://weatherlowfarms.com/?page_id=336



William

[zzy]

Google does this at the Mountain View campus. The city of NY does too.

[Louis]

Not a baaaaaaad idea.

(someone had to say it)

[dave thompson]

Here's our landscaping crew, comes by everyday! Does it for free.

[kingpin75s]

Thank goodness. I was worried goats had taken up the practice of manscaping ;)

Kidding aside, the Twin Cities area has seemingly been pretty forward on this as I have been hearing about implementations around here for a few years now.

Here is one of the recent ones:

http://www.startribune.com/baaad-invasives-st-paul-resorts-to-goats-to-clean-up-riverfront/420735733/

Certainly seems viable, if it is cost effective vs. other efforts.

[572cv]

Not a baaaaaaad idea.

(someone had to say it)

Arrgh.

And in the same vein, its a much better activity than Scapegoating.....
:p

[tctyres]

NYC Parks was doing this in a few areas of Prospect Park a few years ago. I don't know what the status is now.

At first, I thought this was a facial hygiene question: goatee-scaping?

[jmoore]

A few I found in the area...

GoatScaping, Duxbury, MA. $5 - 700 a week depending on time of year...
http://www.gogreengoat.com

Laurel Hill Microfarm, RI. Price dependent on size of area needed cleared...
https://laurelhillmicrofarm.simdif.com

The Goat Girls, MA
https://thegoatgirls.com

Weatherlow Farms, Westport, MA
http://weatherlowfarms.com/?page_id=336



William
I'm not sure I want to Google "goat girls".

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[brockd15]

Sounds like these goats have hit the goat lottery.

[William]

I'm not sure I want to Google "goat girls".

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I tried it. Not as bad as one would think...for the most part. :)




William

[NHAero]

I see them around on Martha's Vineyard, being moved around within electric fences. Apparently this is very effective! I hope to some day watch the process of loading or unloading several dozen goats to move them somewhere new!

[flydhest]

William, why not get a couple to raise for yourself? Wouldn't clear as fast, but would keep things under control year round.

[schwa86]

Good article in Boston globe last year. They cleared out a park near me in a couple of weeks. By all accounts, very efficient and pretty low maintenance. And the fertilizer is free.

[Llewellyn]

Phew - at first I thought this would be the goat equivalent of manscaping

[Louis]

Arrgh.

You're early - that's on Sept. 19th.

[rwsaunders]

The goats around here are a little more sophisticated than Dave's. They were tired of being led around all day by dogs and eating poison ivy, so they started their own coffee shop.

[smontanaro]

I take it goats aren't susceptible to poison ivy and similar irritants?

[witcombusa]

The People's Republic of Boulder has been using them for years to clear the weeds in various areas of the city and they do a good job. The only possible downside, for dog owners, is that the dogs that guard the goats are quite protective and can view other canines as potential predators.

I dare say that the U of C Boulder has been using them for decades. Sheep herds for the big practice fields and grasses and the 'special ops' goats for what the sheep won't touch.

Those sheep dogs really earn a day's kibble too... very impressive to watch them work!!!
:beer:

[bfd]

I've done it! I live on a hill in SF and hired a company called City Grazing to bring goats out to my backyard to eat all the brush and thorny plants. Initially, they were going to put up an electric fence and bring in 10 small goats. But when they went to put in the fence, they found the soil too soft.

So they brought in 2 big goats and kept them here like a week or 10 days. The goats were tethered to my deck and ate and ate. They never stopped eating! But one was kind of a trouble maker and keep getting out of his collar! I had to go around chasing the goat in my neighbor's backyard.

Eventually, we had a goat party and of course, one of my neighbors brought goat cheese....when they were done, I brought in a crew to finish up the rest.

The goats weren't too expensive, something like $10/day back then. I may have to do it again as my backyard is way overgrown from all the rain we had this year.

Of course, YMMV! Good Luck!

oh yeah, here's their website:
https://citygrazing.com/index.html

[pbarry]

Curious what the rates are for this.

My mom just got really bad poison ivy from clearing an area, and had to stop about 1/3 of the way through. This might be a solution.

Just looking at poison ivy and poison oak, I get a bad reaction. Zanfel and the CVS and Rite Aid generics really work, (I've tried everything else). Hope she feels better.

http://forums.mtbr.com/california-socal/bounty-poison-oak-year-612548.html