Can somebody help us

We are looking for an animal to help us keep our grass short.
No problem you would think there are enough.(sheep, goat, cow etc)
Problem is we are not at our acrage during the week, only in the weekends.
Wich graseater can be out there on his/her own, with (of course) fresh water and a lot of acres of gras?

Here are some links which might help in your choice. Looks like sheep win out on "mowing" but I would be worried about predators with either choice. I've heard llamas are very protective...maybe as a companion. Donkeys too can be protective. Don't know that geese would do the job in this type of situation but overall they sure can guard the barnyard flock......

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=009G8m

http://www.llama.org/guard_llamas.htm

This is a copy and paste from another site :::
Nature provides us with animals to help us with our yard- and farm-work. Sheep are our lawn mowers; goats, our weed whackers. Ducks mow around young trees; geese feast on orchard weeds and guard ducks and hens from foxes. Guinea fowl eat bugs--ncluding the deer ticks that cause Lyme disease--but not produce! Guinea fowl and peacocks keep our vineyard nearly Japanese-beetle-free. Donkeys stamp shut woodchuck holes and can protect sheep from dog attacks. Chickens clean our crock pots and turn our compost piles looking for worms. Our furry, feathery maintenance crew each species has its own special talents at keeping plant and bug life, as well as predators, in check.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/

http://www.sheep101.info/

Hope this helps some

~Julie




This message was edited Jun 9, 2007 6:42 AM

geese don't do a very good job of maintaining our lawn. they
just fertilize it so it grows faster, taller, bigger and lankier and
then you have to watch where you step in it, and they
attack you.
sheep are more nicer.
sher

Julie - thank you for the homesteadingtoday.com link. I registered - looks like a good site.

Yep sheep it's gonna be, not this year we are to late for that, but we will put fencing up etc, and next spring we buy 15/20 sheep
Hope it's gonna work.