4 ms·

Seattle company allows you to rent goat herds to clear brush

13 points by MikeCapone 17y ago

aconbere 17y ago
I saw them clearing some blackberries near uw last year. And it was quite a spectacle. Since the area they were clearing was along side the burke-gillman trail everyone walking/running/biking stopped to take a look. Entertaining /AND/ environmentally friendly!
dskhatri 17y ago
Google used goats not too long ago as well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=588740 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=588740
- goodkarma 17y ago
  I remember seeing the Google piece and thinking it was a good idea then. I can see the progression now: 1) local farmer rents out some goats as an experiment 2) seeing positive feedback, local farmer sets up a business breeding goats and renting the herds 3) seeing the success of farmer #1, other farmers set up their own local businesses renting goats 4) one enterprising farmer optimizes the business model and starts acquiring goat rental agencies and setting up regional "goat herding hubs" 5) enterprising farmer gets funding from a prominent silicon valley agency to scale this industrious idea and take it to the masses 6) enterprising farmer's enterprise is acquired by multinational farm equipment company (think "John Deere") :-)
daniel-cussen 17y ago
My neighborhood sportsclub uses sheep to cut the grass. My uncle rents bees out to fruit growers. Why didn't I put two and two together?
zandorg 17y ago
There's a field of sheep behind and above where I live, and basically they do nothing but eat. I think the only way they can get enough energy to survive is to just eat ALL the time.
- eam 17y ago
  On my daily commute to school I pass through miles of pasture, and I've noticed that each day flocks of sheep are being rotated. I guess it's a win-win for the owner of the sheep and the owner of the land.
Alex3917 17y ago
I think you can also rent them from Cornell University's Arnot Teaching and Research Forest, at least if you are willing to let them take measurements for their research. Not sure if this project is still going on, but if not perhaps they could at least point you to some resources.
wildwood 17y ago
Sure, it's Goat-Renter Guy! :) http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/ http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/ - click on number 80
catzaa 17y ago
The problem with goats is that they are notoriously good getting out of their enclosures. If a goat sees yummy grass that looks better than his bush, he will almost surely get out. They will also try to eat anything (even if it doesn’t even look green).
quant18 17y ago
But do the goats have union cards? No seriously, that was a problem when they did this in California: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB05058DFC9509B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&#3... http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wc0PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cY4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2112,1612447&dq=goats+union+clear+brush+teamsters&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wc0PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c...

13 points by MikeCapone 17y ago

I saw them clearing some blackberries near uw last year. And it was quite a spectacle. Since the area they were clearing was along side the burke-gillman trail everyone walking/running/biking stopped to take a look. Entertaining /AND/ environmentally friendly!

dskhatri 17y ago

Google used goats not too long ago as well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=588740 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=588740

goodkarma 17y ago
I remember seeing the Google piece and thinking it was a good idea then. I can see the progression now: 1) local farmer rents out some goats as an experiment 2) seeing positive feedback, local farmer sets up a business breeding goats and renting the herds 3) seeing the success of farmer #1, other farmers set up their own local businesses renting goats 4) one enterprising farmer optimizes the business model and starts acquiring goat rental agencies and setting up regional "goat herding hubs" 5) enterprising farmer gets funding from a prominent silicon valley agency to scale this industrious idea and take it to the masses 6) enterprising farmer's enterprise is acquired by multinational farm equipment company (think "John Deere") :-)

daniel-cussen 17y ago

My neighborhood sportsclub uses sheep to cut the grass. My uncle rents bees out to fruit growers. Why didn't I put two and two together?

zandorg 17y ago

There's a field of sheep behind and above where I live, and basically they do nothing but eat. I think the only way they can get enough energy to survive is to just eat ALL the time.

eam 17y ago
On my daily commute to school I pass through miles of pasture, and I've noticed that each day flocks of sheep are being rotated. I guess it's a win-win for the owner of the sheep and the owner of the land.

Alex3917 17y ago

I think you can also rent them from Cornell University's Arnot Teaching and Research Forest, at least if you are willing to let them take measurements for their research. Not sure if this project is still going on, but if not perhaps they could at least point you to some resources.

wildwood 17y ago

Sure, it's Goat-Renter Guy! :) http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/ http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/ - click on number 80

catzaa 17y ago

The problem with goats is that they are notoriously good getting out of their enclosures. If a goat sees yummy grass that looks better than his bush, he will almost surely get out. They will also try to eat anything (even if it doesn’t even look green).

quant18 17y ago

But do the goats have union cards? No seriously, that was a problem when they did this in California: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB05058DFC9509B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&#3... http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wc0PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cY4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2112,1612447&dq=goats+union+clear+brush+teamsters&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Wc0PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c...