# Do goats make good lawnmowers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585 "2003-07-10T23:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/21 "2003-07-11T19:34:12Z")
This has come up before – causing me to review my goat info. Apparently, the goat literature says goats don’t eat grass. As Duke of Rat and some of my goat owning pals can attest, they do so! When it comes to cow and horses, they will not tear up the grass if they have enough to eat, hooves or no. The problem is that most critters like the tender young baby shoots. A rabbit can kill grass, and will if it feels that spiteful about new growth. I’ve seen freaking geese kill grass with their filthy geese feet and horrible goose guano. (Yes, it’s true that they make good guard animals, but they’ll destroy what you hope to guard and terrorize small children.) ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/22 "2003-07-11T19:51:57Z")
Okay, this has nothing to do with the actual topic, but despite the fact that I’d seen the thread title this morning, and read it correctly, I looked at it just now and saw: Do Goats Make Good Lawyers? We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/23 "2003-07-11T21:44:04Z")
When I was in college, my roommate’s mother raised goats, and he, owing to some unfortunate accidents involving the free-range goats and a mountain bike, hated the animals. Upon finding out about his, a friend of ours put an ad in the college newspaper: > [@](#): > > Goat for sale! Call Enginerd or [Enginerd’s roommate] at 555-5555. No reasonable offer refused. Then she tried to get all her friends to call us about the goat. Of course, we didn’t get the newspaper, so all we knew is that people were suddenly calling us about “the goat you have for sale.” On a serious note, there’s a rancher just outside town here who has been using livestock to control noxious weeds on his ranch. He’s using goats in some places, but I think he’s had more success with sheep and cattle. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/24 "2003-07-11T21:49:54Z")
As an interesting aside, this is the second time today I’ve posted that story (the first on a different message board). Weird. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/25 "2003-07-11T22:27:47Z")
The sheep vs. the goats. I just have a couple of anecdotal thingies to add: When we lived in Oakland, we often saw goats being used to control underbrush in the redwood/eucalyptus forests around there. They were able to get around just fine on the steep hillsides and presumably thought that the tough scrubby plants there were just delicious. I also have a friend in Vermont who used to rent out his flock of sheep to ski resorts in the summertime. Apparently they were useful for keeping the grass, etc., on the slopes nicely trimmed. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/26 "2003-07-11T23:19:18Z")
There are a few [other considerations](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33909) in keeping goats that you may want to think through before you get one. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/27 "2003-07-12T01:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kanicbird \* > \*\ ***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. \*\* Since you think a llama sounds cool but are wary of an ordinary robotic lawn mower, how about a robotic llama? Clips the grass neatly, makes no mess, and has no high-speed blades with which to force humanity into lunar slavery! That’s what I’d go with. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585/28 "2003-07-12T08:23:50Z")
**Earl’s** story reminded me of what I call the ‘flammable sheep’. Along the M25 near Heathrow there is a reservior with steep banks with sheep grazing. These sheep aren’t white & fluffy, but grey and sooty looking due to the exhaust fumes. I figure they have enough petrol fumes in their wool to make them burst into flames. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-goats-make-good-lawnmowers/187585.md?page=1)