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Cheapest animal to replace a lawn mower

5K views 51 replies 28 participants last post by  merlinfire 
#1 ·
So here I was mowing an acre of ground on my lawn mower. Not hard, but what annoys me is not the time but the money....I spent close to $2000 on that mower, plus gas and oil and annual maintenance. Hopefully the mower lasts for years but these days who knows.

And I was sitting on the mower thinking: what if I could have a fence, a Great Pyrenees (or something) and a herd of goats, or sheep, or something. I know nothing more than pretty much the most basic layman stuff about farm animals, wasn't raised on a farm myself. I'm not necessarily interested in making a ton of money or doing this as a business, but ideally it would at least pay for itself, or end up costing less than, say, $200 a year on average (granted, startup would be more because of the fence, and hopefully most of the animals would live several years at least, especially the dog, but say amortized over 5 years).

I don't know if the math even works out on this. But it feels dumb to me to waste money on a mower just so I can waste my time mowing the grass, when I could be letting an animal do it, an animal by the way that might have some survival value in my preps, especially if it could end up costing less, or at least, no more money.

So my question is this: is there a scenario in which this makes sense, what animals might be best suited for this and end up with the least net expenditure, and any general tips.
 
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#3 ·
I raised a couple cattle during the summers on the 15 acre property I lived on in NJ for a few years.
Get ready for a fly population explosion. And many different types of flies. Face flies, horn flies, Big flies, little flies, screw flies, biting flies, green flies. Flies.

And stink. Bovine critters pee and poop a LOT. And if you feed them grain, they will get fat and start ignoring their grass eating duties.

Maybe goats are better. I would like having goat milk and cheese.
 
#4 ·
Goats, no equal. But you have to fence 'em in. Neighbour keeps four, and they have made a lawn out of a pen that must cover 2-3 acres.

Out West there's small companies that RENT goats for weed clearance purposes. They really can and will eat anything that grows. Even poison ivy.

But intact billys do stink.

Cattle - nah. They just eat around the weeds, so the farmer who uses my pasture has to come with a brush hog once or twice a year.

Sheep? A very old friend (1970s) who was an industrial-scale farmer in Virginia wouldn't look at them. "A live sheep is a sick sheep" he used to say.
 
#5 · (Edited)
American Buff Geese

They can not fly. Trim the grass like a golf course. There are some weeds they avoid. Flock works as a group to raise their replacements. Good roasted or smoked.



InMichigan

PS Fixed the link to a photo.
 
#6 ·
goats are browsers they will eat your trees and bushes then the grass, sheep are good for uniform height, high maintainence to quote a neighbor when their last kid graduated high school ( no more ivedtock shows) "I will never own another animal I have to buy clothed for" too hot they die, too dry,wet,cold,startled= die. fly strike they get eaten alive from the ass in. want a lawn a prairiedog or woodchuck colony.
 
#7 ·
Not an expert here but I've seen no mention of equines. Donkeys, horses, or mules.

Milk and meat or not specifically out of the question with these, but they rock as beasts of burden.

How might they graze?
 
#8 ·
OP only offered us 1 acre to use with this thought experiment.

As a kid, we had a horse on a little more than an acre, and we watered it with a windmill as necessary. Bought oats and hay bales. So, I do not think the equines fit this query unless he is willing to spend way more than mowing.

Now I have never had sheep, but know somebody who raises them. You have to split it into 2 or 3 sub-plots to rotate them (parasites). I am thinking one lonely sheep, maybe 2; not a herd, and buying hay as well.

InMichigan

PS I forgot to mention the babies are just so cute:
 
#11 ·
definitely...

but it does vary by breed. We chose American Buff as a US heritage breed and they are more mild mannered than most. Also, they can't fly very well because they are too heavy (more to eat).

By the way, very few strangers are comfortable enough to get out of their vehicle when a dozen, loud squalering geese have them surrounded. We view this as a benefit. More than once, when asked if they bite, I've responded with 'only on command'.

inMichigan
 
#13 ·
Regardless of what you get you probably don't want them right up near the house, because of smell and droppings.

Is there a reason you are mowing an acre of grass? Can you just stop mowing it and let it go wild? Could you reduce mowing it to only once or twice a year? What about replacing it with a no-mow grass mix or prairie grass mix? Plant the acre in food crops that require little maintenance and come back every year(black berries, raspberries, asparagus, grapes, fruit trees)?
 
#14 ·
Where is the O.P.'s AO? In my corner of Ohio if you don't at least brush-hog once a year you'll have a nasty tangle of briars and rosa multiflora the second year. There's a kind of small tree-like thing that can be 14-15 feet tall by the end of the third year. Never mind the pokeweed.

Out on the plains it's very different.
 
#20 ·
Out here in the West, Goats seems to be the real deal.....There's no grass around here (hot and dry) but tons of weeds after the rainy season stops around April.....
One of our neighbors will bring his goats by your place and leave them for a few days. I've seen them eat even old dry, dead plants with tough trunks. But you gotta put them away at night....coyotes, mountain lions......
 
#22 ·
The only thing with geese is that they are selective about where they eat - you might end up with lots of patches here and there that they aren't interested in. And then there's the poop!

I had to sell my geese a few months ago. I let them roam during the day when I was home. They'd go to the yard and "mow" certain spots of it. But the biggest problem was the poop.

Also, they tended to "overmow" certain areas, which then started to turn to another kind of plant of which kind escapes me right now, but they didn't eat that stuff.

Also, they only went for the short grass. If it was tall, forget it.

lol... OP I misread your first paragraph. I thought you said you spend $2000 a year on equipment and maintenance! I was going to say just go buy a $100 mower each year if that was the case!
 
#23 ·
Maybe consider iRobot's new Terra robotic mower. Same company that has been making the Roomba vacuum for a few decades.

 
#25 ·
Geese were once used as alarm warnings.
Goose poop is really nasty.
Anyone use those robotic vaccums? Thinking about one for prime day.
Ask any golf course manager!

There's another cottage industry that does well, renting out border collies to chase geese off the tees and greens. They love it! You'll never see a happier dog than a border collie let loose on a flock of geese.
 
#28 ·
If it is only one acre that is not enough for multiple goats or sheep or cows. He will be buying tons of feed. For one acre I would get two geese or 6 to 10 chickens would be more beneficial because then you can use the eggs. You should be able to feed 6 to 10 on 1 acre with purchasing very minimal feed in the winter only. Give them your table scraps as well. They also might totally moonscape your 1 acre as well.
 
#33 ·
I've got a few fenced acres that I've tried several animal types to keep trimmed down. Goal was low animal maintance and maybe make a few dollars. Minature donkeys, horses, cows, goats, and chickens. Never tried geese.

Cows make the most money for the work but goats do the best job of keeping the grass trimmed back but you still need to spray the field once a year for weeds, even goats won't eat some weeds.

For the 3 acres that we prefer to look more like a lawn closer to the house few hours a week on a really good mower is required. No animal we've tried really makes a decent looking yard.
 
#34 ·
I use sheep in my orchard. They don't damage the trees, and don't eat anything higher than head level. Plus, they keep the fenceline clean! If you go this route, get a meat bread rather than a hair breed. Less work for you.

Goats will eat everything. Literally, and in any way you might apply that. They can stand on their back hooves, allowing the larger ones to destroy fruit trees, ornamentals, etc. Smaller ones can climb trees and fences. In general, they are infamous fence breakers and escape artists. I use them to keep scrubby or rocky areas clear that can't be bush-hogged easily. Plus, if you have thick foilage as we do here in Tennessee, they keep all vegetation from the ground up to about the 4-5 foot level clear. Makes it possible to walk through otherwise impassible vegetation, and clears fields of fire.
 
#36 ·
Op, If a fence won’t hold water, it won’t hold a goat(not if they really want out).I have two Pygmy goats, Pearl and Dexter. Little, short, fat, very smart Pearl is an escape artist. She broke out of a 5 ft tall Welded wire fence. She went thru the fence. I wired up the break in the fence, and put a new section of Welded wire fence over it as a patch. Lasted two weeks.

Someone else said it, and it’s so true, they will eat anything. No flowers, shrubs, or small trees will be safe.
 
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