Once again, Charlottesville is on the cusp of a trend involving backyard livestock. Check out how two local residents are quoted in this story about the latest animal to invade city lots nationwide. Goats, people! Where are your goats?
As Covert and other sources make clear, those spirited ruminants offer a lot to the potential goatkeeper: milk (if they’re dairy goats), fertilization, companionship and–if applied correctly–top-notch landscaping.
As the onetime host of 10 goats (they were on loan to us for a month or so from these guys), I can certainly testify to the amazing things they can accomplish just by eating. I’ve never gotten into the dairy scene, because I like leaving town too much to commit to twice-daily milking. But boy, can those animals take down some brush. They’ll eat stuff that I wouldn’t grab with leather gloves on, and turn it into fertilizer while they’re at it.
All this to say: We are indeed hoping to acquire a small herd of goats in the spring. We have a spot picked out for them–a section of impenetrable woods that we’d like to open up without the use of gas-powered machines. We’ll invest in some fencing, which can run off the same solar-powered battery that already electrifies our chicken fence.
This won’t exactly put us inside the trend; we’re not urban, and our goats won’t be mini. But hey, we do what we can.
Anyone else itching to get goats?