Get Rid of Your Lawn Mower ... Get a Goat Instead!

Forget gas-guzzlin', smoke-belchin' lawnmowers. The eco-friendly way to mow grass and get rid of unwanted vegetation is to ... rent some goats!

The city of Andover, Massachusetts has some unwanted guests: invasive species like the European buckthorn tree and the strangling bittersweet vine from Asia are shouldering out local wildlife. To make matters worse, in tight times the city can't always afford the mowing machines and the manpower required to keep the invaders at bay. That was until they brought in the experts--goats.

The mowing "machines are massive, constantly breaking down, [and they] use a lot of fuel so we have actually had to skip several years of the mowing program because it's very expensive," says Bob Douglas, the director of Andover's Conservation Commission.

Luckily, the commission recently hit upon a neat solution when one of their volunteers spoke to Lucy McKain, who tends dairy goats next to one of the city's preserves. They worked out an arrangement where her animals get to graze the land and the commission saves a few thousand dollars a year. The fix was a win-win for everyone.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by bizwiz27.


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.
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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. :)
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@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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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