Who needs hired help when you have guys like these? Within 30 seconds of dropping the tree, they surrounded me and went to work. Fortunately they retreated to the homeowner's yard when I fired up the saw.
Best Limbers Ever
- Thread starter pweber
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Stihlofadeal64
Addicted to ArboristSite
So that's where the "old goat" was off to? 
I dump limbs on a friends property. From time to time, his cows swarm my trailer to eat the leaves off the limbs when I pull up.
benp
Addicted to ArboristSite
They are the best weed whackers too.
Just keep moving them every so often to a new spot. Work awesome on a fence.
Just keep moving them every so often to a new spot. Work awesome on a fence.
I think the goats had been well trained. The homeowner had a company come in and take all the pine. One of the previous owners a few generations back had planted a stand of pine on about 10 acres. The loggers came in and took all the pine and left the locust and other hardwoods for us scroungers. Nice deal except for the fact that my arms are covered with poison sumac. Ouch. But worth it for a few truckloads of locust.
Now I don't personally like goats nor sheep for that matter, but I was cutting a few years ago on this farm that had sheep running around. The farmer would pasture them in different areas through out the year and the timber was absolutely clear as tall as the sheep could reach.
Guswhit, I always thought it'd be nice to keep goats until I saw how they destroyed all the trees on one guy's property. They ate the bark off every tree up to about 5-6'. After that the trees died. Pasture land only for goats unless you WANT to kill off a forest.
It's amazing how fast a goat can defoliate an area that was once a jungle of weeds and twigs. Sheep ain't too bad either. Grandpa kept a few in his orchard and never had to cut the grass. And, if a small branch ever broke and fell off a tree, it disappeared.
A guy near here had a 10 acre parcel that was a mess. Blackberries, wild rose, weeds and brush with a tree poking up here and there. 3 years and about 30 goats and it was a pasture under the trees with the trees not getting chewed on at all. He got rid of the goats and now has a nice area.
From what I understand goats actually prefer to eat a broadleaf over grass. Make a great weed clean up crew.
I know if you have logs you want debarked, Just put them up about a foot or two off the ground and turn in some goats. they will strip every piece of bark they can get to. Logs will look like old bones in just a few days.
That's true, too. They also love fox tail weeds and crab grass that both produce a broader leaf (something they can sink their teeth into). Skunk cabbage is another one of their favorites.
zogger
Tree Freak
That's pretty cool. The cows here do that with me sometimes, but mostly I try to only cut standing dead.
Imagine what they could do to moist cottonwood to hasten the drying process. I usually rely on bugs, sunlight, wind, and my own hands to remove the bark. Goats would be a hundred times more efficient.
Idahonative
Addicted to ArboristSite
Back in the mid eighties, I used to love to watch a guy bowl by the name of Pete Weber (son of Sr.). Your user name made me think of that.
Oldman47
ArboristSite Guru
Be careful feeding plant matter to livestock. A friend lost several cattle by feeding them hedge trimmings. He tossed plant material into their enclosure and the next day the cattle were dead. Even animals that process lots of vegetable matter cannot use all of it and worse yet each animal has different requirements.
Fred Wright
Addicted to ArboristSite
Goats are living, walking lawn mowers. They'll eat pretty much anything. A buddy in upstate NY had a small herd on his farm, he'd leave 'em browse the yard sometimes. Never had to mow the grass.
066blaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I guess they can even eat poison ivy. Seen it on the news by me. They used them for a area at the Milwaukee zoo that had poison ivy.
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yes but don't ever pet them.
zogger
Tree Freak
I heard that too, and if you drink the goat milk from them when they been eating the PI, supposedly helps ya not get it severe or at all. Natural immunity then or something, but no idea if that is true or not.
