How Much Does It Cost to Rent Goats to Clear Land on Long Island?
By Eat Your Yard Life · Manorville, NY · Updated October 2026 · 8 min read
Renting goats to clear land sounds like a gimmick until you see a tangle of poison ivy, vines and brush eaten down without a mower or a drop of herbicide. So how much does it cost to rent goats to clear land? There’s no flat rate. The price depends on your lot, and most goat grazing services quote each job after they’ve seen it.
This guide walks through what drives the cost, what public goat projects on Long Island have looked like, how the work actually happens, and when goats make more sense than a brush hog or a clearing crew.
Quick answer
The cost to rent goats to clear land depends on the size of the area, how thick the brush is, how long the herd needs to stay, and the fencing, water and travel involved. Most providers quote each lot after a site visit instead of posting prices. For a sense of scale, Southampton Town set aside $3,500 for goat rental and fencing on one invasive-plant project in 2014.
In this guide
What Affects the Cost of Goat Brush Clearing
Every lot is different, which is why goat grazing is almost always priced job by job. These are the things that move the number:
Size of the area
A quarter-acre back lot and a five-acre field are completely different jobs. Bigger areas need more goats, more fence or more days.
What's growing there
Leafy brush, vines and weeds go fast. Thick, woody growth takes longer. Heavy invasives like multiflora rose, autumn olive and bittersweet usually need more than one visit.
Slope and access
Steep slopes and wet ground are where goats shine, but the herd still has to be trucked in and the fence set up. A lot that’s hard to reach takes more setup time.
Fencing and water
Goats work inside a temporary fence and need fresh water every day. Setting that up is part of every job, and it’s a bigger part on long, narrow or oddly shaped lots.
How long they stay and how often they come back
One visit knocks the growth down. Repeat visits over a season or two are what wear out invasive roots. In Montauk, a preserve project planned goat visits every spring and fall for ten years.
Follow-up work
Goats eat leaves, vines and soft stems. They don’t pull stumps or haul away dead wood, so some lots need mowing or a cleanup afterward, plus replanting if you want something new in that space.
What Goat Grazing Has Looked Like on Long Island
Public projects are the best real-world examples, because their plans and budgets end up in the news. They’re bigger than most home jobs, but they show what goats get used for here.
| Project | What the goats did and what was reported |
|---|---|
| Southampton Town 2014 | Cleared autumn olive, an invasive shrub. The town board authorized $3,500 for fencing and goat rental. |
| Oak Brush Plains Preserve, Commack 2014 | Ten Nubian goats took on invasive plants in the DEC’s first goat project on Long Island. |
| Underhill Preserve, Oyster Bay 2016 | Fourteen goats spent about a month eating back brush to protect rare native grasses. |
| Benson Reserve, Montauk Planned 2023 | Goats planned every spring and fall for ten years to fight privet, multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, knotweed and more. |
The Southampton figure was reported by NBC New York and covered both the goats and the fencing. For a homeowner, the job is usually smaller and simpler: an overgrown back lot, a slope that’s too steep to mow safely, or a poison ivy thicket along the property line.
How Goat Brush Clearing Works
- Site visit. Someone walks the lot, looks at what’s growing and checks for plants that are toxic to goats.
- Fencing and water. A temporary fence goes up around the work area, with water for the herd.
- Grazing. The goats eat their way through the brush, often standing on their hind legs to reach higher branches. They strip leaves and vines and trample what’s left.
- Check-ins. The herd is watched while it works and moved or taken home when the area is done.
- Follow-up. Depending on your plans, that might mean a second grazing, mowing, stump removal or planting something new.
With our own goat maintenance service, every lot is different, so tell us about yours and we’ll let you know if goats are the right fit.
What Goats Will and Won't Eat
Goats are browsers. They’d rather eat leaves, vines and shrubs than grass, which is exactly why they’re good at clearing brush.
Goats will usually eat
- Poison ivy
- Multiflora rose, brambles and barberry
- Japanese honeysuckle and bittersweet vines
- Autumn olive and privet
- Japanese knotweed, mugwort and garlic mustard
- Most weeds and young saplings
Plants that are toxic to goats
Some common Long Island landscape plants are dangerous to goats and need to be fenced off or removed first: mountain laurel, rhododendron, azalea, yew and wilted wild cherry leaves. Extension goat specialists keep a fuller list of plants that are poisonous to goats.
What goats won't do
They won’t pull roots or stumps, take down trees, or clear trash and debris. Goats knock the brush back; they don’t grade the land.
Goats vs. Mowing, Brush Hogs and Herbicides
| Method | Good for, and the drawbacks |
|---|---|
| Goats | Good for: slopes, wet ground, poison ivy, vines and invasive brush, with no chemicals. Drawbacks: slower than machines; needs fencing and water; roots and stumps stay. |
| Brush hog or forestry mower | Good for: fast clearing on flat, firm ground. Drawbacks: struggles on slopes and wet spots; can rut the soil; loud. |
| Hand-clearing crew | Good for: careful work around trees, beds and buildings. Drawbacks: labor-heavy; puts the crew in the poison ivy. |
| Herbicide | Good for: killing the roots of tough invasives. Drawbacks: chemicals near homes, gardens and water, on an island that drinks from the aquifers underneath it. |
Often the best plan is a mix: goats first to clear the tangle, then mowing or planting to keep it from coming back.
Is Your Lot a Good Fit for Goats?
Goats tend to be a great fit if you have:
- An overgrown back lot you can’t get a mower into
- A slope or uneven ground that isn’t safe to mow
- Poison ivy, vines or brambles you don’t want to touch
- Brush near a pond, stream or well where you’d rather not spray
They’re a weaker fit if you need bare ground by tomorrow, if the area is full of plants that are toxic to goats, or if it’s a tiny space right beside a busy road.
Once the brush is gone, that space can become something useful. Plenty of cleared lots end up as gardens; see our ideas for growing food in a Long Island yard.
Goat Brush Clearing FAQ
How many goats does it take to clear an acre?
It depends on how dense the growth is and how fast you need it done. A provider sizes the herd and the schedule to the lot, which is one more reason quotes are done job by job.
Can you rent goats to eat poison ivy?
Yes. Goats eat poison ivy without trouble, and it’s one of the most common reasons people call. It saves you or a crew from handling it.
Will goats get rid of invasive plants for good?
Not in one visit. Grazing the same area again and again over a season or two weakens invasive plants by stripping their leaves. That’s why preserve projects bring the goats back year after year.
Is goat grazing safe around kids and pets?
The goats stay inside a temporary fence. Keep dogs away from the fence line and don’t feed the goats, since the wrong snack can make them sick.
When is goat grazing season on Long Island?
Spring through fall, while plants are leafed out. That’s when there’s the most for the goats to eat and when grazing hits the brush hardest.
Do you offer goat brush clearing on Long Island?
Yes. Goat maintenance is one of our services at Eat Your Yard Life, for bigger, overgrown lots, slopes and brush that’s hard to mow. Tell us about your lot and we’ll let you know if it’s a good fit, with a free quote and no pressure.
About the author
Eat Your Yard Life is a Long Island landscape company based in Manorville, NY, run by Matthew Kopp. Matthew has 35 years in the green industry, ran two landscape companies before this one and is horticulture trained. We plan and build edible gardens, look after lawns, trees and shrubs, handle drainage and irrigation, and bring in goats for overgrown lots across Long Island.
Got a lot that's gotten away from you?
For bigger, overgrown properties, we bring in goats to clear the brush and weeds the old-fashioned way. Tell us about your lot and we’ll let you know if it’s a good fit.