Brush Clearing Goats

[DoubleJ]

Sirmissalot,

I have a small patch of land that needs cleared.  Interested in dropping them off a couple of days?

[sirmissalot]

Sirmissalot,

I have a small patch of land that needs cleared.  Interested in dropping them off a couple of days?

They're still young, about 6 months old so not sure they would do with being dropped off at random places. They scream a lot right now too. Is it all fenced?

[gasman]

Watch CL, my brother has gotten many over the years for free on there 

[Roundhead]

I recently acquired 6 heads of Kiko goats and got them in a half acre plot for about 2 weeks now.
Needless to say they are doing their job too well and I may have to give them new forage property in a couple of weeks.
They are in portable electric net fence circle of about half an acre of thick western WA brush.
When I set it up, I couldn't see through the perimeter.
But now I can clearly see from one side to the other.
At the rate they're going and possibly producing twins from my 5 does next year, I'm really nervous that they may run out of food.
I've been doing some research on food plots and came up with a Sun Hemp for a summer crop and Brassica for the fall/early winter.
You guys got any experience with big game food plots for the western side?
I figure goats and deer eat just about the same stuff.

[ghosthunter]

Had goats when I was a kid. One female rode around in the back of my open pick up where ever I went. Another loved to eat cigerattes and cigars. Black berrys where no match for them. They ate them like candy.

[Whitpirate]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/grd/3231743127.html

Passenger or Livestock Alpaca bus - $3500 (Woodinville)

This unique bus was retrofitted to carry seven people (including the driver) and four to five alpacas. There is a catch pen made of 5 foot tall chain-link livestock panels with doors at the front and back. There is an extra panel that can be swung out to divide males and female alpacas.

The bus is a 1999 Ford SuperDuty E450. It is a diesel. It is a retired bus from Kitsap county, Washington. It has 298,000 miles on it. Diesel engines run a long time. In the current configuration, it carries 7 people, including the driver. The cage can be removed, and there are two fold down bench seats in the back that can carry 6 more people. I also have a single seat that I removed. As we understand it, in Washington state a special driver's license is needed only if the bus can carry more than 15 people. This one can't.

This bus has a roof air conditioner in the back. We wanted that for going to alpaca shows if the weather was warm. We never needed it. There is also a rear heater, which we have disconnected so it doesn't start a fire. This could be re-connected if converted back into a bus for people only. The bus was handicapped accessible, so it has a hydraulic lift in the back. We had planned on building a cage around it and using that to get the alpacas in and out of the bus, but we were always able to train the alpacas to go up and down the front steps. The bus has seat belts (not for the alpacas), which we wanted for our kids, and this was hard to find. There is A/C and heat in the front where the driver sits.

We installed all new brakes in it in February ($1557 by Dynomite Diesel in Monroe, WA). The house battery (interior lights, passenger door, etc) was replaced last summer. The engine battery was replaced last month. It passed the emissions test last spring when the license tags were renewed. The driver side door lock didn't work when we bought it, which I had fixed and keyed to the ignition key. The catch pen and stall mats cost @ $500.

Price: $3500


Hehe this would be interesting to bring home to the wife.

[Special T]

My brother had a few goats and here is what i found. He had them here in the Sgagit valley. He had 6 at one time on about 2 acres that was filled with brush and stickers. they did a pretty good job over the summer of beating the stuff down, but where they really had an impact was during the winter months when stuffwas not growing very well. if you want to keep trees then move them when forage gets lean or wrap them in wire. they will strip the bark off trees and kill them. He used  wire fencing to keep them contained but they were hard to keep in the fence. IF done again i would try the eletric netting fence, becuse 2 strings of normal eletric fence didn't stop much.  I think its best to do like someone stated and dput a couple on a small section and move the fencing around. I would also say that lamas are pretty good at protecting goats from coyotes, and dogs. If you have a dog don't get a lama

[fillthefreezer]

I recently acquired 6 heads of Kiko goats and got them in a half acre plot for about 2 weeks now.
Needless to say they are doing their job too well and I may have to give them new forage property in a couple of weeks.
They are in portable electric net fence circle of about half an acre of thick western WA brush.
When I set it up, I couldn't see through the perimeter.
But now I can clearly see from one side to the other.
At the rate they're going and possibly producing twins from my 5 does next year, I'm really nervous that they may run out of food.
I've been doing some research on food plots and came up with a Sun Hemp for a summer crop and Brassica for the fall/early winter.
You guys got any experience with big game food plots for the western side?
I figure goats and deer eat just about the same stuff.

where are you at? i would donate some foraging land for a few months!

[Roundhead]

I recently acquired 6 heads of Kiko goats and got them in a half acre plot for about 2 weeks now.
Needless to say they are doing their job too well and I may have to give them new forage property in a couple of weeks.
They are in portable electric net fence circle of about half an acre of thick western WA brush.
When I set it up, I couldn't see through the perimeter.
But now I can clearly see from one side to the other.
At the rate they're going and possibly producing twins from my 5 does next year, I'm really nervous that they may run out of food.
I've been doing some research on food plots and came up with a Sun Hemp for a summer crop and Brassica for the fall/early winter.
You guys got any experience with big game food plots for the western side?
I figure goats and deer eat just about the same stuff.

where are you at? i would donate some foraging land for a few months!

PM sent

[steen]

I'm really considering a couple of pack llamas for brush suppression and lower impact hiking/packing.  Rinella's brother has an old Chevy van he carries 3 in and they packed a pretty nice camp from what I saw.

Reminds me of the time my lady's mom captured an emu and put in the canopy of their pickup...

I saw/read about one of their trips. I'm not sure about packing llamas in a van. Man that would be ripe. I still like to ride in, but for those that don't want the misery of taking care of hay burners.

I've seen a van used to haul minature horses but I don't know if they had separation from the drivers.

[JakeLand]

I grew up on a working beef  ranch and we used Alpine goats for keeping the blackberries,nettles and everything else clear . The Alpines are more hardier of a breed than sanaans,nubians etc... plus they are much quieter . You must be carefull for the trees that you want to keep cause they will strip the bark off and kill the tree. If you wait till April or May you can get weathers fairly cheap and good place to go are the fairs where they shoe them in 4-H.

[dscubame]

City of
Liberty Lake contracted goats this year and has them move around the city.  Just moved them to legacy ridge where they expect them to work for the next two weeks.  City said they are doing it as a green alternative to weed control.

[Possum197]

Don't forget that hogs do a fantastic job also, especially with blackberries as they root up all the roots. Besides, pork tastes a hell of a lot better then goat after you have your place cleared! 

[black hog]

Possum is right 2 hogs will clear faster and better easy to have Mobile hog pin so you can move them around and have great pork when done