Goats for a clean pond?

[jwmorris]

What are the downsides to using goats to keep the edges of a pond clean

They won't understand what you want them to do and you won't understand what they want to do.

 

[big bubba]

here ya go

MSN

 

[KenP]

Goats are terrible lawn mowers. As others have mentioned, they prefer leafy growth. They will devour everything other than grass that they can get to and still not eat grass effectively.

Sheep are grass eaters.

 

[MossRoad]

They taste much better if you don't name them.

BarbieQ

 

[MossRoad]

Pretty sure he was referring to the beaver being allergic to lead...

 

[Eagle1]

True get some sheep, but they die if you look at them wrong. Mini cattle are easier to contain and will eat grass and everything else. I run Irish Dexter but have a couple minis, not much taller than a dog (well BIG dog) under 40" and my dogs are 32"

 

[KenP]

Years back, my kids called from the local feed store asking if they could bring turkey chicks home. A little reluctant, I said yes, but do not name them, they will be harvested come the holidays. I came home to three chick's and they ignored my caution and had named them Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. And yes, they were delicious.

 

[kmesr9]

If it's grass that you want groomed, sheep will work better than goats. Goats will eat grass but it's not in their top 10.

Sheep will pull the grass up by the roots and destroy and “lawn” so I’d not use them. Goats eat a variety of things and grass is one. If you surround them with multiple choices they’ll eat many things but if all there is to eat is grass where you have them fenced, that is what they’ll eat. I’ve had goats since I was a boy and they prefer to eat blackberry leaves. Where I live now we fenced off 2acres which was 90% blackberry bushes about 8-10ft tall. We put 4 Pygmy goats in it. Took a couple sheets of plywood and laid them on top and those goats were right behind me. Docie doed them around until all the bushes were stocks and burned them. They grow up to the fence or through the ground and are immediately eaten.

 

[kmesr9]

Years back, my kids called from the local feed store asking if they could bring turkey chicks home. A little reluctant, I said yes, but do not name them, they will be harvested come the holidays. I came home to three chick's and they ignored my caution and had named them Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. And yes, they were delicious.

Love that story! Growing up our first steer we named Hefty after the restaurant chain around here Hefty Burger. That was dad’s way of getting us used to the fact he was food.

 

[tbear640]

I am looking to build a pond. The back side of the pond will be shallow and cover a large grassed in area. All of that said. I want to keep the edge of the pond clean.

Has anyone ever used this method?
What are the downsides to using goats to keep the edges of a pond clean

Goats are great and if you find that there not working out to your expectations, they’re delicious!

 

[big bubba]

what's wrong w/a weed whacker & zero turn walk behind?

in the OP's location, there's initial Spring growth, then by this time of year, it significantly slows down. animals will foul the pond, larger hoofed animals will destroy pond banks & any marginal landscaping. otherwise consider it a stock pond & open up the gates.

 

[sunandsand]

Last time I ate goat (or I think it was goat) was an in-flight meal on Air Egypt between Cairo and Lagos Nigeria.

What can you see out of the window at 30,000 feet over the Sahara desert? Nothing - it is like being in a bowl of milk.

It was pretty tasty (or I was pretty hungry) but I had Pharaoh's Revenge for three days, Montezuma being on the other side of the world.

 

[redman135]

Sheep are grass eaters,and easier to control.
Goats are browsers. They will eat grass, shrubs, veggie garden and almost anything that will pi$$ you off.
Goats do respect a GOOD electric fence(hot fence). If they go through an electric fence it is not working properly. They need a good earth then are very reliable.

 

[grsthegreat]

Sheep are grass eaters,and easier to control.
Goats are browsers. They will eat grass, shrubs, veggie garden and almost anything that will pi$$ you off.
Goats do respect a GOOD electric fence(hot fence). If they go through an electric fence it is not working properly. They need a good earth then are very reliable.

I had a stupid ass goat climb into my f350 pickup window and eat the seat. Ill never have one of those pieces o **** on my property again…ever.

 

[Eagle1]

Yeah if you think puppies like to chew on stuff you need to raise some goats.... whole new meaning.

 

[marhar]

I am looking to build a pond. The back side of the pond will be shallow and cover a large grassed in area. All of that said. I want to keep the edge of the pond clean.

Has anyone ever used this method?
What are the downsides to using goats to keep the edges of a pond clean

The pond will not have a liner, and I will not use it for swimming, but I will fish in it. The pond area and the watershed are not in the pastures. I plan on using an electric fence to keep the goats in the area around the pond. Too many times, I have seen ponds where the edges are overgrown and cannot be bush-hogged. I assume a few goats could keep the area clean.

 

[miscjames]

The pond will not have a liner, and I will not use it for swimming, but I will fish in it. The pond area and the watershed are not in the pastures. I plan on using an electric fence to keep the goats in the area around the pond. Too many times, I have seen ponds where the edges are overgrown and cannot be bush-hogged. I assume a few goats could keep the area clean.

Let us know how it goes hehehe.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have two ponds. The big one isn't fenced in yet. The small pond is 3/4 of an acre. Before getting goats, I had blackberries taking over the shoreline. I could mow pretty close to the edge of the water, but not enough to control the blackberries. Every year they took over more shoreline and I got farther behind in the battle to control them.

We started out with 3 Dwarf Nigerian Goats and five horses. At first, I couldn't tell if anything was happening with the blackberries. I wasn't expecting them to eat them, we just got the goats because we wanted them as pets. Then one day I noticed that they blackberries where gone. It seemed like it happened overnight. I was shocked!!!! As we got more goats, we expanded the size of their pasture. The grass turned into carpet. Eaten right down to an inch of the ground. We don't know if the horses did most of that or the goats. They both eat grass non stop.

The horses were rescues and the oldest two have passed away in their mid to late 20's. We have three horses left that are around ten years old. We're at 60 goats right now with zero boys. They maintain about 27 acres, and eventually when I finish fencing the rest of the land, they will have 65 acres. The big pond is in the area that isn't fenced yet. I'm really hoping they clear the shoreline there too!!!!

My favorite thing about the goats is how they clear the undergrowth in the wooded areas. It's become like a park. You can see through the trees up as far as the goats can reach. They get on their back legs to get the leaves, and it makes the area look really nice!!!

I'm using 2x4 horse fencing. It's expensive, heavy and a pain to install, but it's very effective. Eventually I'm going to replace that with 8 foot tall deer fencing, which is stupid expensive, heavy and very very difficult to install. But that's another story. For now, the horse fencing is working great. In the pictures, you can see the white vinyl three rail fence that I installed when I first bought my land. That was a huge waste of money. I love the look, but it's worthless. I had to run electric wire on it to keep the goats in, and now it has 2x4 horse fence tied to it. I'm slowly removing all of it since it's so worthless with animals.

Goats don't eat everything, but they do eat a lot of different things. I expected them to not eat grass, but they seem to love it. They love fresh leaves too, but I see them out in the middle of the pasture eating grass a lot more then I see them in the woods eating leaves. They just love blackberries, but also just about every type of tree sapling that grows on my place is gone. Trees are weeds here and difficult to control. If you leave a pasture alone for a year, it will be full of saplings!!!!! Not with goats, there are no trees taking over any of my pastures.

 

[dstriplett]

Livestock adds a substantial amount of, shall we say, "fertilizer" to a pond. The result of that is an increased nutrient load which increases algae and "slime" growth. Sometimes a pond needs added nutrients, sometimes they don't. For FREE you can have a local soil and water specialist come out, look at the site, and give you some good advice on your build.

 

[fustsgt]

They taste much better if you don't name them.

My girls named their "pet" animals T-Bone Steak and Por4k Chop. Still tasted great!