Consider the goat. Known for its wide-set eyes and head-butting tendencies, it’s a hard-working, low-maintenance, plant-eating, fertilizing machine. So when a property owner is looking to clear large or unruly swaths of land without costly labor, potentially harmful chemicals, and outside environmental impact, they may consider goatscaping, a method that, while not so new, is growing more popular by the day.

Using a herd of goats to clear a property through browsing, foraging, and fertilizing is a centuries-old tradition. Goatscaping takes advantage of the herd’s most natural talents: eating nearly anything and everything in its path. For those concerned about the risk of toxins seeping into the ground from chemical weed killers, as well as accessing steep, narrow, or rough terrain that modern machinery cannot handle, the agile and hardy goat may be a top-choice solution.

Additionally, goatscaping isn’t a natural fix for just weeds and overgrown brush. Dangerous plants like poison ivy, poison sumac, and invasive species like kudzu, which grow rapidly and can smother native plants, are no match for a goat’s appetite.