AUSTIN, Minn — Like most clients, Gus and Ann Maxfield love goats.
The Austins run a goat grazing business. This business is an affiliate of Goats on the Go. Goats on the Go is a national network of independently owned goat grazing businesses that provide goat control of weeds and bushes.
The couple has 120 goats, divided into herds of 40. Gus Maxfield said he bought goats to clean up their land a year before he retired from the boiler business he owned.
“I started this goat thing trying to get rid of all the buckthorn on my 50 acres in Brownsville. This was the worst buckthorn infestation I’ve ever seen in my life. ‘ he said.
After seeing how successful the goats were at removing buckthorn, Maxfield said he discovered Goats on the Go and decided to join the herd as an affiliate.
He said electric fencing is used to keep coyotes, dogs and other predators away while goats graze. they have enough water.
“As long as we have food and water and all is well, we have no problem with them, but when their food source starts to run low within their paddock, the grass on the other side of the fence gets greener.” It’s possible, and it’s going to be a problem.”
Noah Fish / Agweek
On the morning of October 17, Maxfield drove his truck to the golf course at the Austin Country Club. There, on the second day, a herd of goats was grazing the overgrown part of the course.
“For buckthorn control, grazing this very late doesn’t hurt,” said Maxfield. “Because it’s the only one with green leaves and pretty much everything else has fallen off.”
Buckthorns are usually the goat’s first target.
“They are not grass eaters,” he said. “I mean, they eat grass, but they have to be pretty hungry.”
Some of the benefits derived from goat grazing include clearing woodlands of shrubs and pungent plants, opening up hiking paths, thinning dense cover to reduce nuisances from mosquitoes and other pests, and reducing the nuisance of mosquitoes and other pests in homes. For example, improving visibility from windows and outdoor living areas.
Maxfield says the goat’s only limitation is that it can only reach about 6 feet, but he says he can get creative sometimes.
“They ride on each other’s backs or climb big trees and get everything they can get their hands on,” he said.
He said he only uses meat goats because they are “bigger, bulkier and eat more brush”. He said goats will eat anything else they can’t eat.
“They eat all sorts of exotic species, including thistles, wild parsnips, garlic mustard and buckthorn,” he said.
The best the Maxfields do with their herd is to keep 40 goats on an acre of land for about a week.
About 80% of their business is in Rochester, about 40 minutes from Austin, he said.
“There are a lot of really nice homes in Rochester with big lots. They’re built in the hills so they’re very pretty, but there’s no way to maintain them,” he said. It doesn’t matter how rough the
But Gus Maxfield said he has some clients who are there strictly for entertainment.
“After we unloaded the goats, one guy brought a pack of beer and said he was going to see the goats,” he said. “People will have parties to hang out and see the goats.”
Ann Maxfield says renting a goat was a learning curve for them, but it was fun.
“There were a lot of things there that we didn’t understand, and it was fun to learn,” she said.
She said her most difficult experience so far was dealing with issues related to teasing goats, which she said was “overwhelming.”
Their business has just picked up since they started renting goats.
“This year has been the busiest year yet,” she said. “People are starting to realize how good a chemical-free brush control approach can be.”
Now that it’s winter, the goats will basically be in feedlot conditions, said Gus Maxfield.
“All we do is rent goats,” said Gus Maxfield. “We don’t sell them to meat markets or anything like that.”
