'Land piranhas': Missouri's grazing goats offer a green solution to land and lawn care

On a rainy Saturday in Platte City, Elizabeth and Ben Parker remove some electric fencing to create a bigger pasture for their goats to graze.

The Parkers run the North Kansas City affiliate of Goats on the Go, a nationwide organization that promotes renewable agriculture through a method called targeted grazing.

Targeted grazing fences animals such as goats in a specific area to munch on the plants growing there. The goats clear out invasive species and vegetation, ensuring land health and accessibility while contributing to healthy goat nutrition.

“We walk the fence, the perimeter of the fence every day. We make sure that the goats have mineral and salt every day unless it’s raining,” Elizebeth Parker said. “We make sure everybody’s within the boundaries that they need. We may or may not open up a new fence so they can have more to eat.”

Goats on the Go lists five Missouri affiliates, serving the St. Joseph, Kansas City, Nevada and St. Louis areas. The goats clear about an acre every week, and affiliates including the Parkers price by the acre regardless of how long the job takes.

A few independent goat lawn care businesses also exist — Oscar Mike Goats in southwest Missouri, DeShon Target Grazing in mid-Missouri and N.E. Critters Grazers in Springfield and Nixa.

Targeted grazing as a lawn care alternative

Farmers who graze with livestock usually have a focus on the animal’s overall weight and health. Targeted grazing is a land management tool that can accomplish several goals, from removing poison ivy on school playgrounds to preserving pastures for cattle to graze on.

Margaret Chamas owns Storm Dancer Farm in Smithville. She serves as affiliate network support for Goats on the Go and the Livestock Viability Manager with Practical Farmers of Iowa.

“Not that we ignore the benefits to, or the impacts on, soil or vegetation or anything, but the main driver (of livestock grazing) is, ‘Let’s have healthy, productive animals,’” Chamas said. “When we’re doing targeted grazing, we’re looking at, ‘What do we need to do to manage this landscape?’ and the animals are just the tool that we’re managing with.”

The Parkers also have a flock of sheep, which they raise and sell for meat. This brings in revenue but also creates the need to replenish their flock.

Entering the targeted grazing business with goats has allowed them to earn a profit from their livestock without purchasing a new herd.

“That seemed to make a lot more sense to me when you put the same amount of work in, but you don’t have to raise up a whole new flock,” Ben Parker said.

Curbing growth of invasive plants

In 2007, Glenda DeShon and her family noticed invasive plants taking over parts of their mid-Missouri farm. Discovering that goats enjoy eating some of these plants, like bush honeysuckle and autumn olive, the DeShons purchased a herd and became Goats on the Go affiliates serving the Columbia and Jefferson City area.

Since completing a project in Jefferson City’s McClung Park last year, the DeShons parted ways with Goats on the Go, creating their own business, DeShon Target Grazing.

DeShon said that fall is the ideal season for clients to bring in targeted grazers for the removal of invasive species. Around that time, invasive plants start to send nutrients from its leaves to the roots, offering an opportunity for the goats to combat the plant’s spread.

“They rear up, they’ll pull branches down, and then they will defoliate and break off the branches,” she added. “So each time we send the goats through, you know they’re doing more damage to that invasive plant.”

In Platte City, the Parkers have faced some financial difficulties with the business this year due to increased seasonal rainfall impacting farms across the state. Wet ground conditions can cause foot rot in goats, slowing the goats down considerably while grazing.

Though the Parkers chose to work with goats for their targeted grazing business, they hope to bring sheep into the mix in the future. Sheep have shorter legs than goats and are less likely to climb on low-to-the-ground equipment, like solar panels. Elizebeth Parker said this would allow the business to expand by offering targeted grazing for solar farms.

Until then, the goats remain skilled at accessing areas humans can’t and maximizing land productivity down the line by removing unwanted foliage.

“They are acrobats, ninjas, I tend to call them land piranhas,” Ben Parker said. “Because they do a very good job, and they do it quickly for the area that they’re in.”

This story was originally published by Missouri Business Alert, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.