Scape Goats
Why are we featuring pictures of goats in this real estate newsletter? Because they are both adorable and hard-working!
Meet the Scapegoats owned and loved by Heather Lombard, Goat Herder in Chief. The Scapegoats can travel to your property and clear out unwanted brush and invasive plants. Goats and other grazing animals have been used for centuries for land management. Goats provide an eco-friendly way to eliminate invasive plants from your property. Goats will eat vegetation that other livestock won't touch and are able to clear brushy areas that are inaccessible to heavy equipment. Some of the invasive plants which can be eliminated are multiflora rose, bittersweet, sumac, Japanese knotweed, English ivy, garlic mustard, dandelion, kudzu, ailanthus, Japanese honeysuckle, mile-a-minute, and more. It’s a bummer, but the goats generally don’t like poison ivy! They also don’t like grass, so they will ignore that and choose the undesirables.
A herd of 7 goats can clear about a ¼ acre in a week (depending on density). The Goat Herders will transport the goats to your property by trailer and set up a 4-foot high net electric fence. The fence keeps the goats in and any wildlife out (coyotes and stray dogs) and produces the same voltage as an Invisible Fence for dogs (unpleasant but not injurious to anyone including children and seniors). They provide a small shelter for the goats while on your property and only ask the customer to provide fresh water once a day. The goats even fertilize your land as they work! Don’t think a John Deer can do that!
The photos below are before and after shots of a site in Kittery Point the goats recently cleaned up. Good work – you guys are the GOATs! Please let us know if you use this Eco-Friendly approach to land clearing on YOUR property!
