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I personally hate the roar of power mowers so much that I’ve been known to daydream about adopting an adorable miniature goat to keep my front lawn neatly trimmed. (It’s not legal, unfortunately, to keep livestock where I live.) A few years ago I even published a short article in Audubon magazine describing how the city of Chattanooga was using goats to control the kudzu on steep slopes where it wasn’t safe to operate heavy machinery.
So I was interested to find this Wall Street Journal article, called Free-Range Landscaping, about using goats to clear large, overgrown areas. It’s a good read, and the website includes an amusing video of goats at work on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Recently, the patch of weeds behind Steve Holdaway’s Chapel Hill, N.C., home grew so unkempt that he hired outside help. For six hours, the crew’s members tackled tall grass and thorny blackberry plants and toiled without a break—other than to chew their cud, that is.
His workers: seven hungry—and carbon-emission-free—goats.
As more homeowners, businesses and towns seek to maintain land with fewer chemicals or fossil-fuel-powered machinery, a growing number are trying goats to get rid of unwanted vegetation.
Generally, companies truck goats to work sites (some gas required) where the animals munch inside portable fencing or electric netting, often powered by solar panels. Prices can range from $200 a day for a dozen goats to upward of $1,000 for larger herds of 100 or more. On bigger projects, animals may stay overnight supervised by the business owners or specially trained guardian dogs.
The article also made me think of an interesting property I saw on a garden tour earlier this summer. The homeowners had kept a neat swath of lawn around their home and planting beds, while turning the rear of the property into a natural wildflower meadow (photo below), foregoing the need for either goats or heavy machinery.
The meadow is separated from the manicured section of yard by a stone edging and an “arch” made of tree limbs. The person you see walking in the meadow is actually on a path — a narrow strip of mowed grass that bisects the meadow, allowing you to wander through it and enjoy the wildflowers and the steady hum of insects.
I’m sure a herd of goats could tame this meadow and turn it into a flat pasture in no time, but I really love the way it looks here, all wild and beautiful with the tall, swaying grasses and bright spots of color from wildflowers. Though I have to admit, I didn’t venture very far down the path at all — this city girl is far too scared of ticks to be completely seduced by the romance of a wildflower meadow.
I am with you on the ticks, but that is a lovely wildflower meadow.