How Many Goats Does It Take To Clear A Field?

It depends on how busy the goat is with 'other things'

 

What better way to 'get a job done.' Not only do they clear the fields, but free fertilizer!

 

Love it!

 

Here on the mid-peninsula (San Francisco Bay Area), those goats have been used for about the last 10 years to clear the under growth. They are commonly seen here during the late spring and summer months. The goats are far more effective for clearing brush than than spraying weed killer or controlled burning. I wish we could get them to clear the green belt area behind my house here in San Carlos.

Keith

 

We have had goats in my area since the 2003 Ceder Fire took out 300 homes in my area. Good brush clearing, enviro friendly :rockon:

 

If they would eat only the weeds and not the flowers, I'd hire several on a full time basis. Having a lawn care business with goats would be great - just drop them off in the morning, and pick them up at the end of their shift.

 

Not a baaaaaad idea. :madgrin:

 

I was tingling with fear and excitement when I clicked on this thread. Then I had a big letdown. I guess I have a dirty old mind

Seriously: A big thumbs up for natural weed control

 

There is one psedu-downside to this type of weed control: generation of excessive/unnecessary greenhouse gasses.

What a sweet irony: a guy in a Prius photographing the generation of greenhouse gasses!

......uh.... I digress....

 

I wonder how much green house gas would be released by the lawnmower that would have been used to cut the field? Better yet, what about the green house gas output if the field caught fire?

 

Inefficiencies abound. Most appear to be "laying down on the job".

 

But they have a unique compensation and motivation program....

 

Now they are stealing jobs!

[ame=http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/362220/october-14-2010/people-destroying-america--goats-steal-landscaping-jobs]People Destroying America- Goats Steal Landscaping Jobs - The Colbert Report - 10/14/10 - Video Clip | Comedy Central[/ame]

 

I love it!

We employ lots of goats on our preserves but it is the homeless people I worry about pooping on a jobsite.

 

You can with portable fencing...

I think it would be a good small company investment... And if you watch the rearing of em proper, after a couple of years you will have a nice market for the old goats too...

 

And with all the humping going on you will have plenty of meat to sell to ethnic markets.

 

Maybe last year or the year before, someone was using sheep to clear brush and stuff. They would come and set up the temporary fencing and you'd see the sheep in various locations on country roads when entering town. Then the sheep were stolen. I think the herder tried again with other sheep from his flock and they were stolen too. Now we don't see sheep anymore.

 

answer to OP; 3-4... well at least its that around here. we have a local guy who uses goats to clear weeds in vacant lots, etc. he drops them off, they stay a few days to a week (he picks them up every day so they do not spend the night there) depending on the lot size then off to another lot.

i actually saw him working once in the area between the highway and Olympia airport a few years ago. i got to talk with one of his assistants (was his nephew i think) because of proximity to traffic, they had the goats on leashes and had to move them every hour or so. normally they set up a guide wire to cover around 5,000 feet a day.