# Using goats to clear property of vegetation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420 "2014-08-25T00:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/21 "2014-08-25T19:38:42Z")
I can echo **TruCelt** ’s comments. We had 2 acres and 3 mini-goats. They did a fantastic job on brush, and left established trees alone. The fire department even stopped by and thanked us for doing such a great job of keeping the land clear. (They do annual inspections in that area, prone to burn). You’d want to put a wire cage around baby trees I think. And garden beds should be fenced off. We adopted them from the ASPCA. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/22 "2014-08-26T01:09:28Z")
Farmers I work with use goats to clear areas that are hard to access with their tractors. Open areas just get mowed down with brush cutters. Areas around stone walls and slopes the sure footed goats work great. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/23 "2014-08-28T01:25:22Z")
I spend 3 weeks in Barbados every winter. There is a field next to our villa that is attached to a school. As a rough guess it is 20 acres. Every 3 or 4 days, a small herd of sheep (they are called black-faced sheep) grazes for a morning on the field, then are led somewhere else. The school kids use the field regularly, so it can’t be too full of shit. Of course, this is pretty labor intensive, but labor in Barbados is cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/24 "2014-08-30T08:03:12Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The school kids use the field regularly, so it can’t be too full of shit. The only good thing I have to say about sheep is that their shit isn’t all that bad. Doesn’t really stink, little dry pebbles, good for fertilizer. But that’s as far as I go. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/25 "2014-08-30T13:53:00Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > The only good thing I have to say about sheep is that their shit isn’t all that bad. Doesn’t really stink, little dry pebbles, good for fertilizer. > > But that’s as far as I go. Oh yes it does. My high school was across the road from a small farm with a few sheep. When the wind blew towards us, the smell was awful. Growing up around farms, I learned how to identify the species of livestock on a farm from a ways off by the smell. Sheep were no harder to id than horses, cattle or pigs. (With minks being especially easy!) Note that climate can play a role. The drier the less odor. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/26 "2014-08-30T17:42:22Z")
If you want to go deep, you need to get some pigs. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420/27 "2014-08-30T21:02:54Z")
I haven’t ever found that manure from well-managed pastured flocks and herds ever smells bad. I keep goats and poultry and have kept horses and sheep, and the only time things get stinky is when animals are confined too closely. This is true even of poultry. Not sure about pigs. They have the stinkiest poo, save carnivores and human beings, I’ve ever smelled. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-goats-to-clear-property-of-vegetation/696420.md?page=1)