I need some ideas help

[horseandgoatmom]

My goats don't like wet feet. So if its really soft and muddy
I'm not sure how well that would work

There are companies here that rent goats to clear vegetation from areas == poison ivy etc.
And in dry areas to help keep wildfires down.

Lots of things will poison a goat. Mountain laurel and Rhododendron are very poisonous. That's the 2 big things I know of around here.

I do always wonder when you see on news snippits about goats
being used to clear - do they go make sure of whats there first???? and then get rid of certain things or I hate to think that they could just take chances the goats could something poisonous.

We have a lot of mountain laurel at the other property and had we built there it would have been a big task to have
made a really good spot for the goats digging it out cause
you cant just cut it back.

They are also very good escape artists but they to make the BEST PETS!!!
We are lucky here the previous owners having had a pig and cow farm here -- the daughter said they cleared any poisonous plants or trees on the whole property. So no worries on any leaves that fall etc.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

That is a lovely area I hope you can get it sorted.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

Looking at the photos again the weeds don't look
horribly brushy with but more soft stems?
a weed whacker could probably go thru it.
It would take a bit of time but start with a path and build from there.
I bought a decent one that runs on a battery or elect cord.

Here at rental places you
can rent a walk behind brush hog
If its really that wet I'm not sure how well it would go thru though
since they are still rather heavy.

 

[chunky monkey]

That is far too wet too get on with machinery. What sort of strimmer were you using. You need a heavy duty with a metal blade. A little garden strimmer or a poly cord is useless for reeds. If that were me depending on if it stays wet during spring I would fence some of it and start letting the horses nibble. Hit with a good strimmer whilst it's still small. Goats will not eat anything despite the saying but they are browsers. They probably won't eat the reeds though mine never used to by our stream.
Looking at the long stuff do you know what that is growing. I can't decide from the pic.

 

[Jessey]

i didn’t mean an actual powered topper.
what is your home made harrow like? Are you using chains? When we chain harrow a good deal of weeds are hauled out.There must be some way you can rig something that will roughly keep it cut? That way if you sort the drainage you can let them on to graze it and oversow with grass if need be?

My harrow is wire mesh with a tyre for added weight, it does a fair job pulling out/breaking off the old nettle stems and levelling the field. I wondered about some kind of non powered topper before (which is when I looked up thbut could never think how I might make one.

That is far too wet too get on with machinery. What sort of strimmer were you using. You need a heavy duty with a metal blade. A little garden strimmer or a poly cord is useless for reeds. If that were me depending on if it stays wet during spring I would fence some of it and start letting the horses nibble. Hit with a good strimmer whilst it's still small. Goats will not eat anything despite the saying but they are browsers. They probably won't eat the reeds though mine never used to by our stream.
Looking at the long stuff do you know what that is growing. I can't decide from the pic.

My strimmer is a petrol one with a blade, it will go through the reeds, there is just an awful lot to get through and in the summer even just trying to keep up with that one fence line by strimming once a week I had no hope, it grew like wild fire.
Mostly its reeds on there and there is a tall weed, it gets taller then me and has yellow flowers, its def not ragwort, but I don't know what it is. I would just let Hank down there to start clearing it but there is no fence between my bit and the neighbours down the bottom there, he owns the fence that side and has done the top 3/4 but not that bottom bit) so I would have to get some kind of fence in or Hank would def choose to go to his nice lawn next door....as the cows did I also worry about Hank going in the river, he's not the smartest cookie sometimes and it would be too deep for him to stand up in.

 

[Jessey]

I spoke with an environmental consultant who put me onto this document, its some useful info, anyway based on that I have decided to use the little boys to graze it a bit in summer when its not too wet, and leave it to nature the rest of the time, she also ID'd the really tall weeds as being Canadian golden rods which are not native here and told me to cut them twice a year to get rid of them

I just need to figure out running a fence between mine and the neighbours, I think a stretch of leccy tape will be best seen and Hank won't touch it if not powered, and so far I think Dan would be okay too so hopefully it can just be a visual as there's no way I can power it down there.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

Sounds like you have the start of a
Great plan.