goats for keeping grass mowed

[Barrie]

Someone just told me I need to buy a large, expensive mower to keep about 1/2 an acre of field mowed. I am more comfortable with animals than machines, would it work to have two neutered male goats do the job? What kind of care to goats need? I figure they like company, so I would have two and I could get male goats that other wise would have been slaughtered. Who has experience with goats for keeping grass short? I would provide them with appropriate housing, water, food, care, and attention.

Barrie

[MsTerry]

you want sheep, not goats for grass.
Goats will eat anything, and I mean EVERYTHING


Someone just told me I need to buy a large, expensive mower to keep about 1/2 an acre of field mowed. I am more comfortable with animals than machines, would it work to have two neutered male goats do the job? What kind of care to goats need? I figure they like company, so I would have two and I could get male goats that other wise would have been slaughtered. Who has experience with goats for keeping grass short? I would provide them with appropriate housing, water, food, care, and attention.

Barrie

[watermarkfarm]

Hi Barrie,

Yes, sheep make better mowers than goats. Goats are wonderful and fun, but require really good fencing, and they get vertical easily, so will girdle trees and eat just about everything they can reach ---- and they quite often have no interest in your grass!!

Sheep do a much better job with mowing. The downside is you have to have them sheared, and keep a close eye on them as they can get caught in fencing, holes, and just "give up" --- they are not nearly as hardy as goats.

If you get goats, make sure you only take on does or wethers (neutered males). The uncastrated male goats are very smelly. And if you get baby goats, take them to the vet and have them "disbudded" (dehorned) under general anesthesia. Goats can use their horns to pry fencing apart.

Either needs hoof care, shelter, yearly vaccines, etc. I take my goat to Cotati Large Animal Hospital and have found that the vet care is very reasonably priced. I also found that as a new goat owner, they were very helpful when I had questions.

You might try Petaluma Livestock Auction if you are up for saving some lives. Takes place every Monday at 11am.

Another option is having someone mow. Call The Gentleman Farmer in Sebastopol. He is very reasonably priced.

Katie


Someone just told me I need to buy a large, expensive mower to keep about 1/2 an acre of field mowed. I am more comfortable with animals than machines, would it work to have two neutered male goats do the job? What kind of care to goats need? I figure they like company, so I would have two and I could get male goats that other wise would have been slaughtered. Who has experience with goats for keeping grass short? I would provide them with appropriate housing, water, food, care, and attention.

Barrie

[Old World]

Someone just told me I need to buy a large, expensive mower to keep about 1/2 an acre of field mowed. I am more comfortable with animals than machines, would it work to have two neutered male goats do the job? What kind of care to goats need? I figure they like company, so I would have two and I could get male goats that other wise would have been slaughtered. Who has experience with goats for keeping grass short? I would provide them with appropriate housing, water, food, care, and attention.

Barrie
hey, goats are cool animals, and i can relate to your sentiments. i just thought i'd throw out my input from experience. goats are technically browsers, not grazers. that means they prefer to nibble trees and bushes. not that they wont eat grass ever, but if there are any shrubs or trees on your land that you wish to keep alive, i might not choose goats. if you want to keep back blackberries, goats are definately the way to go. sheep are grazers, though, and may be easier on trees. good luck.

[Looksgood]

My understanding is that goats browse (eat at head height), cows graze (eat ground plants down to within an inch or so of the ground), sheep crop (eat ground plants all the way to the soil surface) and pigs root (eat ground plants root and all.) Therefore sheep may leave the ground a little too denuded. Cows would probably be best, but are hard to handle and feed and cleanup after.

I do not know about llamas, alpacas, zebras and the like. Maybe one of those would work.

In Scandinavia, I hear, they prepare raw land for planting by using first goats, then cows, sheep and pigs in their turn, and then finish up by planting potatoes, which break up and aereate the soil. Sure beats nasty smelly farm machinery and burning the residue!

Patrick Brinton



hey, goats are cool animals, and i can relate to your sentiments. i just thought i'd throw out my input from experience. goats are technically browsers, not grazers. that means they prefer to nibble trees and bushes. not that they wont eat grass ever, but if there are any shrubs or trees on your land that you wish to keep alive, i might not choose goats. if you want to keep back blackberries, goats are definately the way to go. sheep are grazers, though, and may be easier on trees. good luck.

["Mad" Miles]

I've always enjoyed Jon Katz's commentary about his farm animals on Slate.com Serendipitiously he's just written about his goats (https://www.slate.com/id/2184053/pagenum/all/#page_start):




"Mad" Miles

:burngrnbounce:

[decterlove]

What about Pygmy goats? Or Siamese Sheep? (short haired and purr when you pet them....oh, wait a minute....I think I'm getting them mixed up with something else...) I've seen pygmy goats though!

[MsTerry]

if you have fences, you can actually give a cow their last meal.
The slaughter house auction in Petaluma will deliver and pick up cows to your home for a nominal fee.
how's that for knowing what you eat?


Someone just told me I need to buy a large, expensive mower to keep about 1/2 an acre of field mowed. I am more comfortable with animals than machines, would it work to have two neutered male goats do the job? What kind of care to goats need? I figure they like company, so I would have two and I could get male goats that other wise would have been slaughtered. Who has experience with goats for keeping grass short? I would provide them with appropriate housing, water, food, care, and attention.

Barrie