{"id":29474,"date":"2010-10-17T08:12:02","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T08:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/goats-hired-to-mow-portland-lot\/"},"modified":"2010-10-17T08:12:02","modified_gmt":"2010-10-17T08:12:02","slug":"goats-hired-to-mow-portland-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/eco-system\/goats-hired-to-mow-portland-lot.php","title":{"rendered":"Goats Hired to Mow Portland Lot"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Story From The Oregonian<\/span><\/p>

About 50 were brought in to clear weeds from a two-acre urban lot, drawing hundreds of passers-by to stop for a peek, offer a hand-picked weed or pet the animals through a chain-link fence.<\/p>

\"I think one of the things that struck me was how starved people are for nature,\" said Quigley, who lives a few blocks away. \"And this is kind of like bringing nature to us.\"<\/p>

Vancouver real estate agency Killian Pacific had Goat Rental NW of Damascus deliver the animals. The idea came from Brett Milligan, a landscape architect, who was hired by Killian to tend the lot.<\/p>

\"They've been out here two weeks,\" Milligan said. \"I thought things would kind of die down in terms of public interest, but it hasn't at all.\"<\/p>

Milligan liked the idea of avoiding gas-powered mowers. But because Killian would agree only if it didn't have to pay extra, Milligan offered to count the goats and refill their water buckets for free.<\/p>

\"I'm getting paid in personal satisfaction,\" Milligan said with a laugh. \"I was very interested in alternative practices, things you could make happen in the city. \"<\/p>

Georgina Stiner, president of Goat Rental NW, said using goats instead of lawn mowers is hardly new, but she's finding a growing interest in urban areas.<\/p>

goatsonbelmont.jpgView full size
\"We've had jobs off Powell Boulevard, a lot where there's a lot of construction where they can't really bring a weed wacker in,\" said Stiner, who started her business nearly one year ago and owns 170 goats that came mostly from shelters.<\/p>

Lisa Walker, property manager for FC Services, LLC., which manages land for Killian Pacific, said that besides being green, the goats have a side benefit: \"The digestive system of the goat actually causes the seeds to be sterile,\" she said. \"Next year, we won't have as many weeds.\"<\/p>

The lot was once home to a warehouse and the Monte Carlo and Lido restaurants. The buildings, vacant by then, burned down in 2002. Killian plans to develop the site after the economy improves, Walker said.<\/p>

Meanwhile, the goats will stick around until Friday, guarded at night by security guards and frequent visits by Portland police officers, Stiner said.<\/p>

Tuesday afternoon, 19-month-old Gwynedd Foulke, visiting with parents David Foulke and Jessica Goin, watched with wide eyes as she held pieces of long grass toward a small goat.<\/p>

\"We kind of expect the unexpected in Southeast Portland,\" Foulke said.<\/p>

Walker said Killian Pacific will look to bring the goats back in the spring.<\/p>

\"We haven't finished the experiment yet, but I would definitely try it again next year,\" she said. <\/p>

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Story From The OregonianAbout 50 were brought in to clear weeds from a two-acre urban lot, drawing hundreds of passers-by to stop for a peek, offer a hand-picked weed or pet the animals through a chain-link fence.\"I think one of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eco-system"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}