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My parents live in a small Texas town. It's not quite rural, but you drive for five minutes away from their house, and you're in the country. Their house sits on about an acre of land. The backyard is filled with old cars and occasionally gets pretty overgrown. My dad borrowed two goats from my younger brother's in-laws. For some reason, the idea of borrowed goats really amused me. We kept goats for milking when I was growing up, but they hadn't had any in years, hence the need to borrow. Goats won't eat tin cans, but they definitely will keep the grass down.

Well I'm sure the grass has to come out somewhere. I think the smell alone puts a one in the loss column.

Wasn't google planning to use goats on their property? And I do know that Leo from the TWIT network had goats in the past. It's a good solution to the problem.

Down in Mexico, we make birria out of them. :)

@pwscott

Yeah, because the harmful fumes of a diesel-burning mowing machine are so much better... /sarcasm

I think the goats are a great idea, they're quieter than mowing machines, friendlier, and I have never heard of anyone losing life or limb in a goat-related accident, unlike heavy machinery. The goat farmer gets food for their herd, the city/county gets the tall grass and weeds out of the way, everybody wins.

I imagine the methane the goats emit are actually worse for the environment than the negative ecological impact of a lawn mower. If cows are as harmful as a car, surely goats are as harmful as a lawnmower.

Have you ever lived downwind from a field of goats? My neighbors had a mere two of them and the stench and the flies made living near unbearable. Fortuneately, they also owned a restaurant so the goats were slaughtered (outside, on their yard) and dished out. Neighborhood complaints put and end to such tolerant multi-culturalism.

"fortunately"

Though you /can/ toss a lawnmower onto a barbecue, they don't hold their flavour as well as a good goat, and they don't curry worth a damn.

They've been using goat herds for weed abatement and levee maintenance for years here in the Sacramento area. Big deal.

My aunt had goats for a while, and they sure did a crappy job on the yard. The goats would skip some parts completely, leaving long whispy grass patches wherever they had problems reaching it, and then they would often chew the grass down to the dirt in their favorite spots.

Another alternative is an unpowered push-mower. No fumes, fewer breakdowns, and you get a little more exercise.

I pestered alot about that idea for a long time now, FINNALY its taken into action

Google have been doing this for a while: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mowing-with-goats.html
200 goats to clear the ground around their HQ.