In 2012, Briana Murphy was bored with her job and looking for a more engaging way to make a living. That’s when she met a woman who was just about to retire from the business of applying brush-eating goats to difficult landscaping tasks.
Before she knew it, the woman had left town and Murphy found herself with a herd of goats and a stack of pending job contracts. That first year, the learning curve was really steep,” Murphy recalls. “Actually, it was kind of a disaster. [series: oregon-field-guide-summer-series,left,5928a17a83e94d0069d25cb5]
Murphy trimmed the herd from 60 to 40 goats and, over the years, has developed a thriving business. With her pickup truck, she transports her bearded lawnmowers from the idyllic vineyards of the Willamette Valley to the urban jungles of industrial Portland. The nimble-lipped goats can handle the toughest landscape tasks—from eating around pokey sprinkler heads to digesting noxious poison oak—without batting an eye.
The nimble-lipped goats can handle the toughest landscape tasks—from eating around pokey sprinkler heads to digesting noxious poison oak—without batting an eye.
Goats are also cost-effective landscapers, willing to work long hours and with less complaint (and lower feeding costs) than a human hand crew. Murphy’s goats can clear about 150 pounds of foliage a day.
“You also don’t have to pay disposal fees because they turn it into fertilizer and leave it for you," says Murphy.
"No extra charge."
