Goats raised on pasture/browse do an especially good job at thoroughly eating almost everything that's made available to them.  Goats natural inclination is to take a bite or two of each plant and move on to the next plant. 

Have you ever seen an excited child the first time they go to an all-you-can eat, self-serve restaurant without guidance?  That's about how goats function naturally.  They are very excited to try a bite or two of each thing and move on.    In the wild, you would hardly even notice that they were there, because, left on their own, they would cover many miles each day, so no one particular plant would get have too many leaves removed.   

Goats managed with the electric net fencing, don't have a choice but to eat more thoroughly, yet, they still generally move from plant to plant, taking a few bites and moving on.  But, in fencing, instead of traveling miles, they return to the same plants in the area until they are defoliated.  We are able to direct their energies and harness their appetites by sizing the fence sections (paddocks) to match the vegetation type, height, and density.  With your goals in mind, we pass the goats through each section according to what you're trying to accomplish.  

What this means for the sake of this outline... Goats prefer broad-leafed plants and weeds.  They eat grass, but, don't tend to focus on it (possibly even ignore it) unless they haven't had it for a while.  Broad leaf plants suffer from browsing.  Grass benefits from browsing.  

Goats eat a wide range of aggressive and invasive species: Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac, Buckthorn, Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose, Locust Saplings, Phragmites, Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Knotweed* and much more.

Goats easily browse in places that most of us wouldn't even think of going, especially to operate equipment.

Sections (often called paddocks) are simply fence sections set up to contain the goats in one given place.  The defined section focuses the goats attention, and can even generate competition between the goats, to defoliate the plants in that section more quickly.  

Without fencing, the goats would roam far and wide and the effect on the vegetation in any given area would be minimal.

The key is attempting to understand the landowners goal(s) for their vegetation and land, and matching the section (paddock) size, vegetation types and density, the number of goats that are in a given area, and the amount of time that the herd is in that section.  The process is part art, and part science.  

As mentioned above, goats browse. So, even fenced, they still exhibit their natural tendencies to go from plant to plant, taking a few bites of each, before moving on.  When contained in a given section, this tendency is reduced a bit, but is still strong. 

Goats almost always start at, or toward, the top of plants and work their way down. They generally do not prefer to eat at, or even near, ground level.  So, the goats eat the seeds and the seed making parts of the plants first.  The plant, almost immediately, tries to regenerate this part of the plant to sustain future generations, but, the goats are still working... still eating.  The plant is consumed incrementally, in most cases. This makes it much more challenging for the plant to recover than from just a simple, clean cut.  

You may know, or have heard, how important it is to have sharp, pruning loppers when working on fruit trees or rose bushes.  Well, goats are the exact opposite of those pruning loppers.  In fact, in the front, they only have teeth on the top.  They basically rip the leaves off of each plant, and almost never all at one time.  When they get to the green, stem parts, they use their back teeth, taking the stem in at the corner of their mouth.  

Besides the fence defining the goats current browsing area, the fence keeps the goats in and predators out.  

Properly used electric net fencing is incredibly efficient at containing goats.  At this stage, a rather large percentage of the FlockWorks goats have been born and raised in electric net fence and live in it year-round.  Even when something happens to the fence, for instance, a branch falls on the fence, flattening it, it is incredibly rare for the goats to test the fence.  Our managment goal is for the goats to never come across a "cold" (off) fence and to keep enough voltage on it at all times that they never want to experience that shock again.   

You can keep reading below and on the rest of the site why we believe that working with goats is the best way to manage vegetation and land, and decide for yourself if you wish to work with our goats, or, maybe even begin with goats of your own!