Forget The Lawn Mower, This Southeast Minnesota Company Brings In The Goats

Keeping your lawn nice and manicured usually means powering up the lawn mower, right? Well, now there's a new, natural way some Minnesota communities are using to keep weeds and brush under control.

They're goats. That's right, and we're talking old-school goats here-- the animal kind-- not the current shorthand for 'Greatest Of All Time.' (Although, if they'd allow me to get rid of having to mow our lawn all summer, these goats might also the Greatest Of All Time.)

According to THIS Pioneer-Press article, the city of St. Paul is only the latest community in Minnesota to deploy a herd of goats to get rid of those unwanted weeds.The story says about 30 goats are set to gobble up brushy, invasive plants at various spots along the Mississippi River.

And, they're rented from a firm here in southeast Minnesota, too.  The company, called Goat Dispatch, is located in Faribault. Their website says goats are the perfect approach to weed control here in the Land of 10,000 Weeds-- er, Lakes:

• They are Eco-Friendly! No heavy, noisy machinery is used.
• Goats naturally fertilize the ground as they eat and leave their droppings.
• As goats eat the brushy vegetation, it provides control of mosquitoes and wood ticks due to reductions in their habitat.

And, they're the cute, too!  What a great idea! You can learn more about the process the company uses when deploying their goats HERE.