Going green with billy goats

Image by woodleywonderworks 

Trying to figure out how to get your lawn mowed without having to buy an expensive power mower, use a lot of gasoline or inhale all those power mower fumes?  Well, you could do what Glendale Community College recently did.  They decided that they were going to implement a “greener” land management process and so they hired some goats…150 of them.

Now, you may or may not know, but in recent years goats have become a popular alternative for brush abatement.  Rather than using machinery, such as weed-wackers or mowers, that tend to generate a lot of air and noise pollution, goats are brought in to thin out the brush, overgrown hillsides, etc.  And since they can easily maneuver across steep terrain and other areas that could be treacherous for humans and machinery, it becomes a win-win situation.

Glendale Community College decided to give it a try.  They had already taken a number of measures to go green, such as installing solar panels on their parking structure, using reclaimed water and having waterless urinals…not totally sure how that last one would work well, but apparently it is a “green” move and that’s good.  So using goats for land management was their next step in going green.

I thought it was a good idea, but was still curious so checked out ELMgoats.com and found that goats can be hired for many services, not just brush abatement or land management.  They can apparently be used for landscaping, fire control, irrigation, erosion suppression and hillside planting & design.

Just think….rather than using toxic chemicals to kill weeds or listening to the loud noises coming from power mowers and weed-wackers (not to mention having to breathe the horrible fumes), you could hire a goat or two or 150 to do the job.  For those of you who live in fire-prone areas, the goats could help establish and maintain a nice fire break for your home.  You have to admit it’s worth checking out.  I like it – it’s a green solution and a very natural solution at that.