Weed Control for Land Owners

Our goats are available for private homeowners and landowners, too. They are popular for getting rid of unwanted or fast-spreading plants, clearing brush, and helping transform unused areas into useful land. We often work with landowners to remove noxious weeds and invasive plants, and to reduce vegetation for a lower wildfire risk in fire-susceptible areas.

Western Grazers is based at Blue Tent Farms in beautiful northern California and is available for both large and small jobs across the state. Our goats are versatile and eco-friendly, and can eat their way through almost any plants, trees and shrubs you need gone. Every property is different, so we will talk about your goals and needs, as well as what your land is like, before creating an individualized project plan.

Benefits of Goat Grazing for Landowners

If you’re looking for a greener, more sustainable way to do weed control on your property, goats are the way to go. Instead of herbicides or pollution from mowers, all goats leave behind is organic fertilizer. Land near waterways, where chemicals can be a big issue, is especially well suited for goat grazing. Our goats also can go where people and mowing equipment can’t, like rough or rocky terrain, steep hillsides and other landscaping challenges.

When fire danger is a problem on your land, that’s something else goats can help with. They can clear brush, shrubs, thick vegetation and grass from areas to reduce fire risk and slow down the spread of wildfire. We also can target their grazing in certain areas to create firebreaks or buffers around your home, ranch or property to make it more resilient during a fire.

Goats will eat almost any plant, which makes them excellent at clearing noxious weeds from an area, including ivy, poison oak, star thistles, brooms, blackberry and other difficult shrubs and plants. For invasive plant control, they’re hard to beat, because goats will eat the seedheads of plants first, and most seeds passed through their digestive systems come out inert. After goats graze through an area, there are also added benefits that help restore native plants. Goats aerate tough soil with their hooves, and leave behind organic manure which acts as fertilizer.

How It Works

We’ll assess the area you want cleared, and bring the right number of goats to get the job done. Our goats will be managed on-site by experienced Peruvian herdsmen, accompanied by trained Border Collies for herding and Great Pyrenees guard dogs. We control the goats’ movement by setting up temporary electric fencing. This method also protects any trees or plants that you want to preserve in the grazing area, which can be fenced off for protection.

We use Kiko goats, a hardy, vigorous grazing goat breed originating in the challenging terrain of New Zealand, and we train them from birth to graze behind electric fencing and netting. We provide the fencing ourselves, and ensure there is water available to the goats in every location.

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