goats cleanup crew??

[dieselbeef]

i have the op to lease 25 ac of crappy scrub pasture for 85/month. if i could get the price down to around 500 i was thinkin that i might use some goats to clean up the place. lotta weeds and trees and just generally low quality grasses. if i could get the goats to run for free from someone how do ya think this would werk. run bout 20 goats w the cow/calfs. then haul off the goats. sposedly goats are browsers and will eat the grass as a last resort. thatd be nice.....if i could get the price down reasonable. 85/mo is too high for 25 ac. only carry maybe 5 cows. its ag belted so his taxes aint nuthin. im think 50-60$ mon tops

 

[bigbull338]

goats will clean 25acs up good.but itll take them a year or 2 to really get it clean.an if you put 5 cows on it.you can put 25 nannies an 1 buck on it.but you have to have a fence that will hold the goats.an you can sale the goat kids for $50ea.thats say $2000 an $2500 for calves.pretty gopod profit on 25acs.plus you need a donkey to guard the goats.

 

[grannysoo]

Goats do a good job, just make sure you've got enough fence.

 

[dieselbeef]

got no real issue w/predators so far round here...maybe the goats will werk out. i hear the fecnin is a p in the a though for em. gotta be all filed fenceya think....not gonna do electric but i will pull woven wire

 

[J. T.]

I was in the goat business once, about 7 months ago for about 5 minutes. I bought two nannies to clean up my corral and barnyard. As soon as I let them out of the trailer they found a gap that I didn't know existed and entered the pasture. I thought that would be OK, that I'd just open the corral gate, herd them back in, and fix the hole where they escaped. That is until the cows saw them and ran them through a fence of three hot wires and that's the last I ever saw of them. I'm sure by week's end they were coyote crap.
So, I don't know if the electric fence failed, or if Brangus mommas hot on their tails caused them to disregard the fence and head for the coyote dinner table. Anyway, I wouldn't count on just electric fences to confine goats.