Benefits of Using Goats to Maintain Your Yard

By Spaces Contributor July 14, 2015 2:44 PM

Instead of counting sheep at night, you envision two cute little goats keeping your lawn beautifully trimmed while you relax with a cold one. That seems like the ideal situation and use for these adorable animals. But it’s not realistic because what goats will do to your grass would be more like a nightmare. Sometimes they refuse to eat certain stalks leaving an uneven trim. Plus, they clear out spots for resting by pawing all the way to the dirt. The end result is not pretty. However, goats do very well at eliminating overgrown vegetation.

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Unless you already have a menagerie of farm animals already, you may want to rent goats to help you control your excess brush and weeds. This is what you need to know.

How Many Goats Will I Need?

The number you need largely depends on the size of the area you want munched. Some say three goats per acre, but if you rent the Pygmy or Nigerian Dwarf variety, they are smaller and you’ll need more of them. One benefit of the smaller goats is they can get into locations that the larger ones can’t.

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How Does It Work?

Contact a goat rental company and ask them to come out, assess your needs and give you an estimate. Then, you can sit back and relax. These organic weed whackers will get rid of blackberries, thistles and any vegetation with stickers. They have a natural immunity to thorns. If you want to replace your lawn with a garden or hardscaping, goats can help with that, too.

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4 Considerations for Using Goats

1. Eco-Friendly

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Goats don’t spread noxious chemicals that can be harmful to pets or people. These animals don’t pollute and they fertilize as they work. You know that natural ingredients make up the healthy manure they leave behind.
2. Less Expensive Than Humans
Goats run much cheaper than the man power and machines needed to do the same type of clearing. If you decide to purchase one or two, then you’ll redeem your costs fairly quickly.

3. Good for Steep Hillsides

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Goats actually like foraging on abrupt slopes, making them the better choice than a human. Our physique isn’t cut out to work while standing at a slant for long periods of time.

4. Will Eat the Good Stuff

When placed in a residential yard, the goats will surely clear the brush and brambles. But, they will also devour flowers, berries and small trees. That’s why you need someone there, like the owner of the goat rental company, who can guide these mammals to only eat what you want gone.

To Complete the Job

More than likely you’ll need to a brush-clearing service to clean up what the goats fail to eat. Check with the goat renter to see if he supplies that kind of assistance.

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