Best animal to "mow" lawn? Need suggestions please!

[superchemicalgirl]

I just spent 3.5 hrs push mowing my lawn (really can't be done with a tractor) and as such I had a long time to contemplate this question. I have come up with a couple solutions:

1. If you don't mow it frequently eventually the weeds get really big and flower, and look quite nice.
a. You can justify not mowing it by saying it's better for the environment
b. However, when you do eventually feel bad enough to mow it, it takes at least 2 swoops of each section to
fell the large weeds. Which really doensn't save you time in the long run. Darn it.

2. Have kids. You are going to need some way of making their lives miserable (isn't that what being a parent is all about?) - what better way than mowing. As a kid mine was mucking horse stalls. I will never have horses.
a. However to do this plan correctly one would have had to have foresight about 10 years ago. I didn't.

3. Hire kids. Much less painful and overall less problematic than suggestion 2. I know for sure I'd rather be at work making money to pay someone to mow than sweating and grunting in my yard followed in hot pursuit by every stinging bug known to man.

 

[arabianequine]

I thought cows you want to raise for a full year for like holsteins and (jerseys 1 1/2) because they grow smaller and slower etc. to get full maturity before butchering. We do anyways.

 

[minnesotachicken]

Quote:
No, no, no...they're guests, not pets! Their names should be Ribeye and Porterhouse or you'll wind up haying them all winter, chopping water, building shelters, then asking people how hard it is to train cattle to pull carts and whatnot.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
While everything you said is 100% correct, the OP doesn't want to "raise animals"
They want a "lawn mower"
Unless they want to crossfence the YARD, then rotational grazing won't work

Whoever said "teenage human" gave the best answer so far

What I read is that the OP has 5 acres of grassy land which is too much to maintain as lawn. Just because something was once yard does not mean it always has to be. I was (perhaps wrongly) assuming the OP's intention is to reduce the current lawn size of 5 acres to something more manageable (perhaps 1 acre or less) and to assign the remainder of the land to sustaining grazing animals.

Now with your response it seems we're seeing two different intentions in the OP's words/envisioning two different scenarios. You are thinking what they want is to keep the entire 5 acres, including the "yard" area "mowed" to a presentable level with animals alone, with only perimeter fencing?

The OP's clarification of their intent would certainly be helpful as yes, you're right, the second scenario is a recipe for disappointment.

 

[EweSheep]

Depending where you live....restoration prairie grass and wild flowers. Nothing like Mother Nature's creation of her paint palette to blaze your worthless pastures to blooming colors. Therefore you wont have to mow.

Or if you dont have alot of trees, but alot of grass, you can have a hay farmer come out and he can pay you for your use of acreage for hay or give you half of the crop for your expenses or your pin money.

Oh yeah, teenagers always looking for a job however if he should run into something he should not, then that would be another expense to look at.

Horses do a great job mowing but they do have their weed spots that they do not graze. I like the cattle idea better....if you do not want to take care of it but want it mowed, lease the summer out to the cattle farmer and he can bring his cows over for grazing and in payments in money or part of it for your freezer for a steer or two.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I agree with the 'rental' critters idea, buy at the auction in spring and sell in fall. Mowing will still be needed for weeds and final clean up to even up the places that do\\don't get grazed. No need to commit to a species, in fact as noted rotation of species is a good thing even if only done year to year.

You need knowledge of the critter and their health and management, and all types need some work so really your trading mowing for some other work. If your not interested in that better to advertise your 5 acres for grazing and have someone else populate it for you. That could be a real win-win.

 

[lasergrl]

We need to know what type of fence you have, or are willing to put up.

Best idea Ive heard is the feeder steer. One should do it, maybe two if its very good grass. Most lawn grasses arent very good under grazing so one is probably good.
Cattle are the easiest to contain in my experience. A couple of hotwires or three barb wire will do it. Sheep are just as hard to fence then goats, its just that goats can jump. Sheep will have no problem pushing through barbed or hotwire unless really hot and close together. My hair sheep only respect electric net fence or welded wire. The cows are VERY respectfull of hotwire. If I really had to, one hotwire would keep mine in!

You want a beef "feeder" for this. A dairy steer would have to be housed over winter.

 

[Jkioneil]

we had the same problem a while back when we had land and sheep were so wonderful kept is nice and short and gave us the best fert in the world. i say a few sheep sell the wool as we did and your lawn and garden will thanks you

 

[Alabama ee]

Quote:
I love mini donkeys. We have 3. They are so sweet and VERY smart. For kids, I like them better than horses. Most do not spook easily. They think before they react. Many horses react and then think about it. WHen we lit fireworks, they would just stand and watch them! They are very curious . They each have their own personalities. They are like equine dogs. They are very loving and get very attached to their person. However, I am not sure they are easy throw them in the pasture animal. You will have to have their hooves trimmed by a farrier every 6-8 weeks. They need some type of shelter from the heat and rain. They also need shots and routine dewornings. You would need to brush them sometimes. (WHich ours LOVE.) If taken care of, they are very long lived. It is not unusual for one to live to be 30 or longer. I have heard of them reaching almost 50 years old. They are a lifetime pet.

If you just want a livestock type of animal, Barbadoes sheep(hair sheep) are good. HOwever, you also have to give them shots deworm them, etc. . But, they are MUCH easier than wool sheep. When we had them, they would have babies twice a year. Most of the time they twinned. They take care of the birth alone. They do not need the help wool sheep do. They have a certain wildness left in them. They also handle heat and parasites (internal worms) better than wool sheep. We sheared our wool sheep. I had to pay someone to do it. Then, we burned it. Wool is hard to sell here. If I did sheep again , it would be Barbadoes or some other type of hair sheep.

 

[spectrumranch]

We have 2 full size gelding horses, 30 some mini horses, several alpacas and weanling llamas, nigerian dwarf goats, a handful of sheep, and 20 lowline cattle that can graze our lawn besides a few acres of pasture plus over 100 geese and 100 ducks- and with all the rain this year- I still end up mowing.

One thing that is a pain- is getting out of the vechile to open and close the gates across the driveway all the time. Or when my bottle calf comes to the door for her bottle with about 1000 mosquitos following her that then want in the house.