A goat herd is coming to Navasota! Yes, a goat herd.
At a recent Navasota city council meeting, a contract with Rent-A-Ruminant, a company that sends goats out to municipalities around the state to eat vegetation that machinery cannot reach, was on the table.
The discussed areas for the goats would be from Brosig, along Cedar Creek to La Salle. The other area would be from the other side of the bridge on La Salle to the railroad tracks.
Representative of Rent-A-Ruminant Terry Carr shared his findings and why these goats would be necessary in Navasota.
“The areas you have here, it is very heavily overgrown. There is no way you can get mechanical equipment down those steep creek banks,” said Carr.
He said four questions usually arise, ranging from cost to how long it will take, but there is one he gets asked the most: how do the goats stay in the area?
“For the goats getting out, we have a liability policy. We are going into our fourth year…the goats do not get out. There is a four foot tall, with four inch squares, white fence. And when they see that fence, they know it is going to give them a shock. Those animals are very sensitive on their nose. The only time we have problems is when we have a newborn come into the herd, or we acquire a goat from someone else and they come in and hit the fence a few times. But, they respect the fence,” said Carr. “The fence is not primarily for keeping them in, but for keeping four legged and two legged predators from messing with our goats.”
Carr says that about 85-100 goats will likely be used for the project. And he clarified that there will be no…education classes for the kids from the goats.
“We have a mixed herd. We do not bring in any standing males. We don’t want to educate the school district if the kids come out there,” Carr said, as the council laughed.
The council approved the contract with Rent-A-Ruminant on November 12th in the amount of $13,105.50. The total acreage covered will be 4.551 acres. The work of the goats should be completed in 2020.