While bush hogging

Well it’s not actually a Bush Hog brand (it’s a Woods brand) but that’s what most folks call them around here. Most of my property is timber land, plantation pine and few mixed hardwoods. Then you have all the undesirable brush. Anyway, while bush hogging along the property line, power line and trails that cut through the woods I got to thinking about ways to eliminate all the under brush and thought about goats. Anyone on here have experience with goats. How to keep them inside fence? Are predators a problem? Any vaccination requirement? Any parasite problems? Herd separation- male isolated from female? Winter feeding? Just a thought for now. Any advice is much appreciated

How long do you need them? A former coworker had a side business of taking goats to areas with thick underbrush/weeds and the goats would clean it up. There is a franchise called "Goats on the Go" but I don't know if he was part of it. One of the local state parks had a goat company come in and clean up an area.

Goats as Sheep have worm issues, wormer has to be given routinely and OFTEN, as well rotated from one type to another every time.  They eat seriously close to grade so pick up near to every worm critter known.

According to Bill, he uses a syringe looks like a meat juice injector, sprays a load down their throats which ends up around half sprayed Back Out on him. He take, he will NOT EVER have worms!!! Worst incident when first started got a full dose sprayed in his face and mouth, wears a rubber meat cutters apron Elbow length gloves a hat and face shield, still catches some.

Goats have a certain odor, different from cows and pigs . But they do eat a lot of brush and weeds . My Sister and Brother in law had 10 acres north of Peoria . About 15 years ago they brought in a guy with About 200 goats . Most of the property was fenced already. He strung up a temp hot wire to keep them in for about a week. They came and ate everything within reach. Beautiful job but it stunk for quite a while. My brother in law was told to start spraying when the weeds started to come back . He never did and the honey suckle took over in about 5 years. They sold it and not sure what it looks like now.

PaulB wrote: Goats will eat anything they can bite off. Sheep are about the dumbest animals on the planet and more trouble than they are worth. All of your concerns are valid though. For temporary weed management the easiest thing to do is stake them out with a sturdy chain and move them as needed. That also allows you to bring them to the barn at night.

And make sure you bring them in. If not the coyotes sure do appreciate the free "stake" dinner

I'm in the same boat sorta. My wife wants a few goats and we HEAR a lot of coyotes. Don't see a lot. I guess we'll see how it goes