Cows or goats?

[Kingfisher]

I have a friend who just bought a new place. He wants to turn some goats loose on about 15 acres to " clean up" a fence line. I wonder if a couple of calves might do the same work. What do you think?

 

[dun]

Goats would be far more effective. They would also need more care and protection from varmints

 

[CKC1586]

Goats will do a great job! However, if the fence isn't "goat proof" they will go wherever they please... I used 3 goats to clean up a paddock, they did it in about a month or less then drove me crazy. I was told if you can pour water thru it a goat can get thru it and that is true. Was happy with the job they did but glad to see them go.

 

[cowboy43]

need good fence!

 

[cow pollinater]

Get a load of thin cows. They act like a vaccuum cleaner and when they're done you can sell them for significantly more than what you paid for them.
By thin, I mean skin and bones.

 

[dun]

With all the talk on these boards about how hard goats are to keep in you would think that it's impossible to build a goat proof fence. Not so. # strand of HOT hotewire wit hthe first strand about 8 inches form the ground and the others a foot apart will keep goats in, even kids.
If yo happen to get some jumpers, add another wire a fot above the top one

 

[Anonymous]

We're going thru the same right now. Mother in law closes on the 5 acres next to us on friday. We'll fence it with 5 strand and a hot, a pass thru gate between the 2 pieces, and buy 4 mid to late bred cows. Turn those loose on the palmettos along with mine. Shouldnt take long for them to clear em good. Hold back the best after weaning and sell the rest to max out the stocking ratio without feeding. I hate goats, and won't even think about having them. Down here there's more money in goats but to me it isn't worth it. The only kicker is the price of fencing the place in. 3 sides, 1200 ft, and 2400.00 installed, including 3 gates and all H braces. He has a great rep for good fences though, and warrantied it for a year, even if a tree falls on it.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

FWIW...

Our Longhorns keep our fence rows very clean...as well as our few trees prunned up to Cattle Reach...

Last Fall we got a La Mancha doe that had been a pet. She is about 70 lbs. We bred her to another type "meat" goat. She had a buck kid last month.

Both will follow us around and stay in the yard area that has an open entry gate. The yard is fenced with 7 barb wire on 1 side and 4x4" cattle panels on front, and two sides (panels were for keeping our dogs in several years ago and "improving" the looks of our front which opens on the highway.

Neither mama or baby goat have attempted to go out front gate.

They eat hay, grasss, weeds, and most anything else (did a number on broomwead & pig weed for us)... lol. The goats are better in our yard than one or two Longhorns, for sure...

Bill

 

[brandonm_13]

I had a jumper on my 48 inch field fence, so I put a hot wire about 2-3 inches above it. He was standing in water (it had been raining) when he decided to climb up the fence to look over. He got his nose pushed up against the new hotwire and it sounded like a .22 going off from 50 feet away. I fixed that problem, or so I thought. I went inside and came back out a few hours later, I realized that HE realized he just had to clear two more inches and he would be back where he wanted to be. Great buck, but he had to go (but did so at a good profit). Now I have 6 foot 2x4 field fence. Holds in goats, but the dogs I had in it learned to climb out. Seems like I just can't win. :frowns: ;-)