Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. In the latter half of
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, one George Ballas invented what he called
Speaker 1: the weed eater. It's a motorized weed and grass trimming
Speaker 1: device that uses rapidly revolving strings to cut down vegetation
Speaker 1: in small spaces without destroying the bark of trees. It's
Speaker 1: easy to use and doesn't require much in gas or
Speaker 1: electricity to run. Genius, but perhaps not as genius as
Speaker 1: humanity's original weed eater, domesticated ten thousand years ago goats.
Speaker 1: Of course, using goats as mowers went wildly out of
Speaker 1: fashion for a while in between then and now, but
Speaker 1: using goats to maintain vegetation works just as well today
Speaker 1: as it did in ancient Mesopotamia. Goats are commonly used
Speaker 1: to control big swaths of land in cemeteries, parks, airports,
Speaker 1: and even Google headquarters, and though they don't cut grass
Speaker 1: and vegetation down as evenly as a piece of machinery,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of benefits to using animals rather
Speaker 1: than machinery and her Besides, goats, after all, don't require
Speaker 1: petroleum products residential homes in the United States use about
Speaker 1: six hundred million gallons of fossil fuels each year on
Speaker 1: lawn maintenance, and that doesn't even include green spaces like
Speaker 1: highway medians, military bases, and public lands. But where there
Speaker 1: is vegetation, goats can do a decent job of gnawing
Speaker 1: down in base of weeds in a more sustainable way. Also,
Speaker 1: goats can turn that unwanted brush into milk, meat, and
Speaker 1: fiber like cashmere if you play your cards right. Goats
Speaker 1: are known for their nimble hoofs, which can get places
Speaker 1: of mower can't, especially through rocky or wooded areas. They're
Speaker 1: also highly motivated and will accept the challenge of even
Speaker 1: the steepest slope. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is in its
Speaker 1: seventh season of using a mixed herd of goats, sheep,
Speaker 1: and a donkey named Jackson to clear the grounds around
Speaker 1: the airport all eleven acres that's about four and a
Speaker 1: half hectors. In the past, they've also incorporated lamas and
Speaker 1: alpacas into their grazing herd. Plus goats eat a variety
Speaker 1: of different plants. They're not picky. Goats are browsers, rather
Speaker 1: than grazers like cows and horses. Grazers will keep the
Speaker 1: lawn mode. But if you want an animal that will
Speaker 1: take a chance on an unusual looking vine, goats are
Speaker 1: for you. They'll practically always try a plant they don't know,
Speaker 1: and their guts can tolerate a wide variety of plant species,
Speaker 1: though care should be taken to make sure there's nothing
Speaker 1: on the land that's outright toxic goats. Perhaps the only
Speaker 1: drawback is that you can't set goats out to work
Speaker 1: on their own. They need to be monitored because they're
Speaker 1: great escape artists. At O'Hare International, land cleaning is important
Speaker 1: because it keeps wildlife off the property because they can
Speaker 1: denude even the toughest bramble thicket. The airport uses goats
Speaker 1: and other animals to take care of their stubborn overgrowth
Speaker 1: to keep wildlife and people safe. Wildlife can pose safety
Speaker 1: concerns for aircraft taking off and landing, and keeping the
Speaker 1: land cleared encourages animals to live elsewhere. If you want
Speaker 1: to rent a herd of goat landscapers, that's doable. There
Speaker 1: are many companies out there that will service your goat
Speaker 1: gardening needs, and according to Red wagon Goats located here
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia. Most residential customers can get their backyard
Speaker 1: cleaned up within the four hundred twi thousand dollar range,
Speaker 1: depending on size and complexity. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Jesselyn Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For
Speaker 1: more in this and lots of other Harry topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff Works dot com, and for
Speaker 1: more podcast from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
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