Goats on the Go offers a new-ish method of commercial pruning that’s both effective and adorable.
by Addie Ladner | photography by Bob Karp
Stephen Paul has just under 100 hardworking employees. They eat all day, sometimes nap on
the job, wander around and distract passersby. Bernie might be his MVP, a friendly fellow who likes chin rubs and has a big personality. Paul owns Goats on the Go Raleigh Durham, a company that offers a fairly new form of sustainable agribusiness here in the Triangle. If folks have a lot that’s deeply overgrown, property owners can rent a herd of stealthy, motivated ruminants to clear the land.
That employee Bernie? He’s a Saanen dairy goat. Paul says there are many perks to using goats on projects like these: “We don’t use chemical herbicides, and goats are good at getting to areas that a machine or human might not be able to reach.” Goats can navigate tricky terrain, steep slopes and small nooks, and because they digest most everything down to the nub, they don’t spread seeds or roots to other parts of a landscape. Another perk: They’re cute. Ann and Wade Smith are among Paul’s Raleigh clients.
Last July, they used Goats on the Go to clear a lot they own near Hayes Barton. It’s kept natural for their tight-knight neighborhood to enjoy the wildlife and trees and hold social gatherings, but it had gotten too overgrown. Paul set up around 20 goats, armed with GPS trackers and virtual electric fencing to keep them contained, and they stayed for a week — much to the delight of their neighbors. “We’ve hosted Halloween parties here for more than 50 years, but this was the best event we’ve ever had,” says Ann.
Ann says they even got to know the goats’ idiosyncrasies. “They love poison ivy — they think it’s candy — but will only eat English ivy if nothing else is there,” she says. Since goats will consume most anything, Paul says that probably the biggest challenge of running his animal husbandry business is learning which plants the goats can’t tolerate. “Our greatest threat to the health of the herd is them eating a plant we missed,” he says. Daffodils and azaleas are poisonous to goats, and for this project, Paul had to remove some Nandina, whose berries are highly toxic to the animals. Neighbors of all ages enjoyed watching the goats work. “They bring joy, and we need more joy,” says Ann. Her husband Wade agrees: “They worked hard and with good cheer.”


This article originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.
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