Information: www.GetYourGoatRentals.com
Drive-by sightings of small herds of grazing goats have been on the increase across northern neighborhoods and schools all summer, making fast work of brush-buried backyards and overgrown areas between walking trails and soccer fields.
Goatscaping is a gentler, greener way to tame out-of-control and invasive plants. It’s also much more relaxing and fun to watch than a weed-whacking, high-decibel landscaping crew.
Targeted grazing is gaining popularity as municipalities, businesses and homeowners discover that goats provide a lower-cost and environmentally friendly method of clearing lots of unwanted plant growth, such as poison ivy and kudzu.
Cathleen Westall, my neighbor down the road, discovered they’re also an instant ice-breaker. Shortly after Get Your Goat Rentals arrived on a recent August weekend, Westall, a teacher at Green Acres Elementary School in Smyrna, met her newest neighbors as they walked their dog, Marsha, past her home.
Other neighbors, Jess Johnson, and his daughter Quinn, couldn’t resist the pull of the 30 little caprine creatures chomping away and stopped by. Across the electric fence, the man next door watched, while a couple of friends perched on her porch, enjoying the spectacle from the deck of her treehouse home.
Westall planned a viewing party after work the next day, complete with homemade peach sangria. But the goats had made such quick work of the job, they were headed to greener pastures days sooner than expected.
“I am glad I saved the money,” admitted Westall, but, “I think I just decided I’m going to have to get a goat.”
They make no noise, they don’t smell and they’ll eat climbing vines to about six feet up trees. In fact, they’ll eat almost everything except azaleas, and they leave behind a little pellet-style fertilizer.
Michael Swanson of Get Your Goat Rentals told me it all began for him in 2009 with three dairy goats in the yard of his home near Turner Field. A neighbor asked to have the goats clear his yard, and Swanson obliged.
Sweet goat photos on social media prompted calls and e-mail inquiries about their availability, and the three eventually became 30. They were fruitful and multiplied to the 140 he has today. He divides them into four herds of 30 to 35 each.
They are in such high demand that they are booked out about two months. Swanson is never far from his herds, keeping close in case of a “goat emergency.” But his two Great Pyrenees dogs, George and Bella, watch over the goats by night and whenever they’re out eating for health and profit.
About the Author
