Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021 - 31

MOUNTAIN CURiOS

1.5 acres with electric fencing, Goodling
unlatches the gate on his trailer, releasing dozens of goats that leap out in slow,
nursery-rhyme fashion, followed by two
guardian Anatolian Shepherds.
" Like kids in a candy store, " shrugs
Goodling. Every size and color, the goateed herbivores race to the nearest branch
and begin munching before vanishing
into the foliage. " By morning, all you'll
see are tree trunks, " says Goodling. " Then
we'll move them to the next acre. "

" I was the only one in the area doing this when I started, but now there's
a goat company within spitting distance
anywhere you go along the Blue Ridge, "
says Goodling. " There's plenty of work
for us all. "
A custom home builder by trade, Goodling formed Goat Busters when the housing bubble burst in 2008. " One day I'm
producing more than $3 million in custom homes, and the next day I can't find
a screen door to fix, " he says.
Raising Kiko breeding stock was a side
business for Goodling, so he decided to
follow the example of a goat colleague
in California who was already using her
Kikos in large brush clearing projects.
" I had the goats, truck and trailer, " he
says. " All I needed was fencing and a charger to be in business. "
Goodling's first job was to clear the
densely tangled woods surrounding a
vineyard in Ivy, Virginia.
" The biggest threat to grapes is mildew
and fungus, so the goal was to promote air

flow, " says Goodling. " We saved them a
fortune in grape crop value. "
Goodling's goats have chewed their
way through private and municipal
jobs along the Blue Ridge, including the
University of Virginia's Birdwood Golf
Course and Virginia Department of Forestry clearing projects at Lesesne and
Paul state forests.
Katlin Mooneyham DeWitt, Forest
Health Specialist for VDOF in Charlottesville, describes goat grazing as " the cutest
form of vegetation management. " The
VDOF recently led two projects studying
the use of goats for controlling invasive
plants, combining grazing with targeted
herbicide applications. " Goats are great at
clearing land that needs a reset, " she says.
" This is so much different than construction business, " says Goodling. " It's
not as lucrative, but the karma is so much
better-and I sleep well, " he says. " With
Goat Busters, everything is good-the customers can't wait for us to get there, and
they never want us to leave. "

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Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021

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