CASEY BREWER, owner and operator of West Side Goat Girl, LLC, visits with the herd of goats she currently has out in the Ridgefield area. Brewer comes out to the site for a couple of hours each day to give the goats water and sometimes grain, and also to help cut down some of the bigger brush for the goats.
THESE WORKING GOATS do take about a 15-minute break every so often to process their food (chew their cud). They do sometimes also sneak in a quick nap in the sun.
THE 23 GOATS out at Heron Drive in Ridgefield seem to enjoy their job of eating down the vegetation and brush at one of the city’s fully fenced stormwater facilities.
WHILE THE GOATS will sometimes nibble on the softer bottom parts of cattails at the Ridgefield site where they are working (eating), they generally will not eat the tops of the cattails or any other vegetation with hard stalks.
RIDGEFIELD – Before those of you reading this jump to any conclusions about unfair animal labor practices or something of the like, don’t worry, Casey Brewer’s goats do work pretty hard (eating), but they do also take their mandatory 15-minute break every so often to process their food (chew their cud), get a drink of water and grab a quick nap in the shade.
“You know when you get up in the morning with butterflies in your stomach because you’re excited that you get to go to work? That’s how I feel every day,” Brewer said.
Brewer is the owner and operator (well, with some help from the goats, of course) of West Side Goat Girl, LLC. The Woodland-based company is a family-owned-and-operated goat rental, vegetation management service that serves both Washington and Oregon. Currently, Brewer has a herd of 45 goats that she rents out to residential communities, municipalities, construction sites and other areas in order to help reclaim the area that is overgrown with blackberries, brush or weeds. Depending on how big the job is, Brewer will bring a number of her goats to the site and they will busily work away eating down the overgrowth.
Anyone who has driven down Heron and Lark drives in Ridgefield recently has probably noticed several of Brewer’s “employees” working hard eating down whatever tasty vegetation they find at the site of one of the city’s fully fenced stormwater facilities. The crew of 23 goats has been working the site in Ridgefield now for about a month, according to Brewer.
“The ones I have out here (Ridgefield) are mostly mamas and babies,” Brewer said. “All my big boys are up at Boeing right now.”
When Brewer, 49, started her goat rental business about five years ago, one of the first major job contracts she got was with Boeing up in Everett. Her goats currently work for Boeing to clear brush and vegetation from five of their water retention ponds during the year, a job that usually takes about four to five weeks for the goats to complete. Smaller residential jobs will often take the herd just a few days to complete.
Growing up in the farmlands of Hillsboro, OR, Brewer had a few goats as a child, along with many other farm animals. Her current herd is made up of a variety of goats, including Nubians and Lamanchas, that she purchased from people, at livestock auctions and a few that she considers rescues. Some of her herd, of course, is also made up of offspring born to several different does and sired by the one adult buck she currently has. All 45 of her beloved goats have names, several inspired by famous duos such as Jack and Jill, Benny and Joon, and Thelma and Louise.
“Goats are very intelligent, curious and silly,” Brewer said. “I would have to say that they have a sense of humor.”
Brewer’s adventure into the goat rental business began about six years when she was looking to get out of the marketing and sales industry and find the right form of self-employment. She hoped to find something that maybe included being outdoors and interacting with animals. At that time, an acquaintance of Brewer was going to sell a goat rental service and Brewer decided to jump at the chance, only to have the acquaintance back out at the last minute.
“I had already started marketing the business and purchased necessary items, including the goats, so I just kept going on my own,” Brewer said. “Never looked back. It started with 10 to 12 goats, now we are having trouble keeping up with the demand.”
While the goats are out working at a site, like the one in Ridgefield, Brewer visits the goats for a couple of hours each day and helps to make their job of eating easier by cutting away blackberry stems and some of the other vegetation items that goats don’t typically like to eat. She also spends time socializing with them, giving them fresh water and giving them some grain to supplement their diet.
According to the West Side Goat Girl website, there are many benefits to renting goats for brush clearing compared to traditional methods, including:
• Easily access difficult terrain
• Provide fertilizer
• Entertainment for the community
• More cost effective than landscapers or heavy equipment
• Quiet and timely
• Pesticide free
• Perfect for sensitive areas such as steep slopes, wetlands and water retention ponds
• Reduces fire hazards by clearing brush ladders
Contrary to popular belief, Brewer said goats do not eat “everything.” They enjoy blackberries, leaves from trees and, of course, grass.
The goats will be out at the Ridgefield site for at least another week. Residents passing by can feel free to observe the goats, but Brewer asks that people not try to get inside the fenced area with them.
For more information on West Side Goat Girl, visit www.sauviegoats.com, email Brewer at casey@wsgoatgirl.com or call (360) 798-5878.
