I’m getting tired of pushing around that lawnmower every week or other week. I was thinking of making a deal with some animal, he would get to eat all the grass he wants and I don’t have to mow. Sounds like a win-win to me.
So is there such a animal? (as the OP implies I am considering a goat - but open to others). What kind of land requirements are needed to keep it going?
Nope, contrary to popular belief, they don’t eat grass. They’re actually kind of particular about their greens and shrubbery. They do like to chew, though. If you have any wooden shingles you’d like removed, they’d be happy to oblige. One side of my garage is a testimony to their efficiency and skill.
They’re also great for barmitzvahs!
So, you’d rather clean up animal $#!+ every day instead?
How big IS your garden anyway? A grazing animal needs quite a large area.
Maybe you could put down some artificial turf instead.
A horse-farmer friend of mine told me goats will completely denude a lawn, including the grass roots.
Llamas and alpacas clip off the grass neatly and don’t tear it up since they don’t have hooves. But like all animals, they do produce manure.
why don’t you get one of those robot mowers?
So you don’t have to fertilize, either. It’s a win/win!
Yeah, but running around barefoot in a fit of whimsy is out of the question.
The thing about goats is that they won’t give you the even cut a lawnmower affords you – like AskNott says, they will ruin your lawn – it’s not in their minds to ‘stop eating the tasty grass and move on because the lawn will look uneven’.
I suppose that you could take the money required to purchase such an animal and feed it, etc. and hire someone to cut your grass for you.
I just read that goats don’t really eat grass – the rest of my post still applies.
Goats like to eat brush. Sheep eat grass, and unlike horses, they do not pull up the roots. Too damn bad sheep are almost too dumb to be alive.
OK goats are out.
Re: Sheep are dumb
Do I really need a smart sheep? Won’t a dumb one eat the lawn (in a renuable mannor) anyway?
A llama sounds really cool, what are the land size requirements?
dave don’t you ever read a book or watch a movie or TV? - that’s exactly what the robots want. It’s just asking for trouble to give them weapons (high speed cutting blades). Robots are just waiting for their chance to take over, throw us all in some artificail reality pod or put us to work as slave labor in a moon crator. It’s not a pretty sight.
How about rabbits? A neighbor had a floorless hutch for his rabbits and would just move it to a different section of lawn every couple days. This seemed to do the job fairly well.
[gratuitous Monty Python reference]
But it’s just a little rabbit…
[/gratuitous Monty Python reference]
Ask the goat owner!
I have a large yard, and it is sectioned off into several parcels.
I bought a pygmy goat and set him loose on one section (the section that already had a bird dog occupying it). He is a wither(sp?), neutered as an infant so has no billy goat traits like spraying himself with goat piss. Something to take into consideration when goat shopping.
Anyway, he does a pretty fair job af mowing, depending on the weather. A wet spring will sometimes make the grass grow too fast for him, but if the early spring is dry he can usually keep up OK. His forte is weeds, but he does eat grass, trust me.
Goat droppings resemble rabbit pellets, so clean up isn’t really an issue.
The thing I like about the goat is he really is a funny little fellow. He really does have a great personality and is a lot smarter than you might think which came as quite a surprise. We get him out and let him play with the other dogs, kids, whatever, he isn’t a bad pet even if he didn’t eat grass.
But left to his own devices he will eat things you would rather him not eat…like the bark off of trees. Luckily the only tree he has killed was a volunteer we didn’t reall want, so no foul there. Just can’t leave him in our yard…he has to be put over into his yard.
Goats aren’t for everybody, but I like mine.
I don’t know about “good,” but they are pretty low maintenance.
My town was home to a lovely prison on the banks of the Congaree River. The prison was on a hill, which made for perilous grass-cutting on the back-side (near the river), as it was pretty steep between the prison and the river. The solution: keep a few goats out back. And that’s what they did until the prison was closed.
if you have ornamental shrubbery, either it or the goat could be equally imperiled. some ornamentals (memory faulty without my landscaping books from home, but i think rhododendrons are one; azaleas are a possible, as might be mountain laurel) can be toxic. certain trees, like chokecherry, are also poisonous in certain circumstances (wilted leaves can kill a horse, yet still-green or completely dead ones are, IIRC, less dangerous. bark might be a hazard also.)
not to mention the "**#*^%@ **"factor if your landscaping goes down the goat’s gullet when that wasn’t part of the plan.
so unless you’re prepared to make sure that any hazardous or otherwise off-limits greenery is fool-proof inaccessible, i don’t think i’d recommend it.
(however, FWIW i understand goats are an absolute whiz for clearing out vine-overgrown tracts, or unwanted patches of bamboo.)
oh damn, knew there was something i forgot.
someone said sheep don’t tear up the roots on grass. i could have sworn i’ve heard the exact opposite – that, in fact, one of the justifications for the cattle-vs-sheep Range Wars was due to the fact that sheep ate the grass down to the bare roots, thus effectively scalping that pasture area and making it unusable. something that cows don’t habitually do.
but i will mention that both cows and horses, while not normally known for eating the roots of grass or other forage, have sometimes been known to pull up plants by the roots as they graze (accidentally, of course). of the two, horses would get my vote for the easier to clean up after.
I have a friend whose family keeps guinea pigs. They live on the front lawn, and have a cage around back for safety, comfort, etc. They keep the lawn down, and it’s great to see the looks on people’s faces as they go by, trying to figure out what these furballs on the lawn are. 
The main downside to the guinea pigs is that they sometimes get eaten by birds of prey. Otherwise, I think they’re the way to go!
I love this thread, because I had thought about posting the same thing (I had actually written a long winded post, and the hammies ate it). I have 3 acres, which the township thinks I should mow, and I think I shouldn’t have to (especially since I don’t own a lawn mower). My only problem is that none of it is fenced, although I had heard that you could tie a goat out, if given enogh line. Don’t know if that is true.