Local business offers customers a natural way to landscape with goats

Goats grazing in the backyard of Maddie Hunsaker’s home in Idaho Falls. See the goats in action in the video above. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com IDAHO FALLS – Since moving to her Idaho Falls home on 7th Street, Maddie Hunsaker has been interested in permaculture. As she looked at natural ways to get rid of the weeds overtaking her backyard, Idaho Goat Grazers came to her aid. Zakary Copeland with Copeland Farms in Aberdeen, which owns Idaho Goat Grazers, brought about 80 head of goats to Hunsaker’s property on Wednesday to clear away the unwanted foliage. They showed up around 9 a.m. and had most of it eaten by 5 p.m. EastIdahoNews.com visited Hunsaker around 10 a.m. on Wednesday as the goats were still grazing. She said she’s planning to grow food and plant flowers in her backyard and using goats as an alternative to mowing or weed-whacking is “a much better way of getting rid of noxious weeds.” “This is a much more sustainable way of getting rid of the weeds,” Hunsaker said. While she’s not opposed to weed-whipping the yard, she says the goats can get the grass down to the roots. She’s tried a vinegar mix in the past designed to get rid of the grass, but it wasn’t effective because it grew back. “Trying to get it down as close as you can to eliminating it and down to the dirt — you could do it with weed-whacking, but I’m going to sow new seeds in here. As much as we can get this down to the dirt, the better,” says Hunsaker. Watch the goats work in the video above. Copeland has been offering goat grazing services in eastern Idaho over the last year, but just recently launched it as a separate business for Copeland Farms. RELATED | Farmer offers goat herd to clear away your unwanted foliage for a price Though Copeland Farms produces and harvests beef, Copeland says the goat grazing business is a full-time job during the summer. “Depending on how big the jobs are, we’ll try to do two or three of these a week,” Copeland says. “Last week, we were at a place for four days. We’ve done two-week jobs before.” Maddie Hunsaker, left, poses for a photo with Zakary Copeland, right, and his dog. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com Copeland says a lot of people are more conscious of what they’re putting in the ground these days. Many do not like the idea of using chemicals or machinery, and prefer natural methods for eliminating shrubbery. Not only does goat grazing save people a lot of work, Copeland says there are other advantages as well. “The goats will break up that top layer (of soil) and loosen it up so that it’s a more suitable seed bed,” Copeland explains. Using goats as a means of eliminating noxious weeds is a fairly new concept and Copeland first heard about it through a friend. After seeing a lot of interest and demand for it on social media, he decided to launch his own business. He’s gotten calls as far away as Boise for the service, but the amount of people who want it locally keeps him busy enough. Those interested in hiring the goats or learning more, can visit Idaho Goat Grazers on Facebook or TikTok. You can also call Copeland directly at (208) 251-0857.The post Local business offers customers a natural way to landscape with goats appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com