lawnmower goats

[mad_misky]

My lawn suddenly became unmanageable after a two week rainy period and I don't have a reliable lawnmower. Someone's advertising $25 goats in the paper and I'm thinking of getting one or two for lawnmowers... good idea? Also, what do I need right off the bat to house them? The property I live on (160 acres) used to be a sheep farm, so there's fencing a lot of fencing around, a barn and three-sided shelter, and a spring-fed watering hole, but the kicker is, none of them are together. The barn and shelter have a corral around them, but aren't attached to the pasture or the water and the pasture isn't attached to the water (it's very close, though).

Good idea? Or no.

[whiterabbit454]

i need some lawnmower goats too it sounds like you have a good setup maybe someone else will post and let you know what else you would need i say go for it

[fishhead]

If they aren't used to lots of fresh grass they could be dead from bloat in 24 hours.

I would be cautious about getting them until you've got a way to control them and everything is all set up. My first goats went through the fence and disappeared into the night within an hour of arriving at the farm. I got a call that night from a neighbor wondering if those were my goats standing on her second floor deck staring at her through the sliding glass door.

If you want grass eaters that are less trouble get some geese. They'll have the yard looking like a golf course and are easier to keep.

[trnubian]

I'd say if you want an animal that will manicure your lawn for you get a couple sheep. They will do a MUCH beter job for you. Goats eat high sheep eat low. Goats aren't the greatest lawnmowers. Now sheep are GREAT lawnmowers. Sheep are also much easier to contain.

[Michael W. Smith]

Goats are more of a browser (like a deer). They take a bite here, a bite there, walk over here - take a bite here, a bite there, move over there - take a bite here, a bite there . . . . . . .

Now, yes, if you have the goat(s) in a small enough enclosure and leave them in there until they the grass down to "lawn status" it will work - but while the goats are enclosed in that small area, the rest of your yard is growing.

Also goats are great and wonderful ESCAPE artists. You think you have a fence that the goats can't go through - they quickly sum things up checking over everything - and if there is an escape route they will find one (or make one). And you won't discover them until AFTER they have eaten your rose bushes down to stubs and pulled/eaten everything in your garden!!!!!

As for fishhead's advice to get geese - while you might have a "golf course" manicured lawn - you will also have piles of slippery goose poop EVERYWHERE! (Yes, it's quite a scene seeing geese on a park lawn or golf course lawn right beside a pond, but your "beauty picture" will change once you walk up to where the geese are and see piles of goose poop all over!)

Now goat manure is so much better than cow manure - instead of the big cow pie Bossy gives you - the goats will give you nice little berries - similiar to rabbit manure. (Of course, you still have the problem of them climbing/ going under/ going through the fence!)

[Scrounger]

I have found that if you want a goat to "mow" grass, put a fence up to where the have to stick their head through it. They will mow it out as far as they can reach.......

[Lada]

My goats are out on my yard and up on my wooded hill everyday and they are crappy lawnmowers. They are very good at killing my rose bushes, though. I think the only way you could force them to eat grass would be to tether them in the yard.

[Bricore]

We have a zero turn lawn mower. It did our grass just fine back in Ohio.. BUT we moved and now live on a mountain and we sure don't feel safe using it here. So, it sits until I can talk my husband into selling it.

My goats must be the ODDEST goats in the world because I keep hearing that goats eat brush all the time and not grass. My goats are free ranged and can go any where they want during the day (we have over 40 acres and other 40 between us and the next land that they can free range and only a little over an acre or two of grass.)

I'd say at least 80% of the time all but one of my goats eat grass. I have one buck (our herd sire) that loves Brush. He is in the brush most of the time but all my girls and babies stay on the grass most of the time. Now they DO go down our mountain and eat the grass along side our driveway too (not the BRUSH!)


There are a few things I have found my goats will not clear that is in my grass areas. Mullein (which I am glad because I like having this) and Physalis virginiana. So, both of those stay in my yard until I can go weed whip them.

Another thing I have been told about goats that my goats don't understand. I have been told they WILL NOT eat Pawpaws and people use goats to clear things around them. Well I have a few goats that when they do go in the brush that will eat them as fast as anything else (I have one little buck that just loves them.)

http://bp2.blogger.com/_R9Na04dnJgA/...20/Trouble.jpg

I can't say what your goats will do or someone elses but I know my goats can eat whatever they want here and they pick the grass most of the time!

[CookingPam777]

Originally Posted by trnubian

I'd say if you want an animal that will manicure your lawn for you get a couple sheep. They will do a MUCH beter job for you. Goats eat high sheep eat low. Goats aren't the greatest lawnmowers. Now sheep are GREAT lawnmowers. Sheep are also much easier to contain.

I wish my goat ate high it eats low. I only have 2 of 6 high grass eaters.

[Scrounger]

Mine REALLY love it when I close off both ends of the driveway and let them eat the brome grass along it. They eat grass all the time. Ever fence I have has a "mowed" strip on the outside that is as wide as the goats can reach.

[sgian]

All my goats will both browse brush and eat grass, but some individual goats have strong preferences for one or the other. My goats with Spanish blood seem to have a preference for brush, while my Nubian mixes have a strong preference for grass. My Boer mixes are in between. Some have a strong preference for certain varieties of grass and will eat those to the ground while leaving taller grass of another variety. They will often leave the long seed stalks alone after eating the very tops when there are tastier parts available.

[manygoatsnmore]

Mine are good grass eaters, but you'll have to figure out a way to keep them from eating things you want to keep. You'll also need to know what they've been eating to know if you can put them straight onto the grass. Drylot to grass will most likely bloat and kill them. If they are already on grass/brush, not a problem. Do make sure they have baking soda available, and if they have been on dry rations (hay), make the switch gradually.