City Sheep and Goat was previously known as Sheep’s Work and has been providing prescribed grazing services for over 9 years. English ivy and overgrown woodlands are our specialty. Sheep are quiet, enjoyable and take 4 to 10 days to defoliate an area infested with English ivy, poison ivy, kudzu, privet, honeysuckle, and other invasive plants without harming trees, soil or the use of chemicals. (Goats often kill the trees by striping bark). We can provide temporary electric net fencing if needed. Our work includes sites on UGA campus, GA Tech campus, Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve, Briarlake Forest Park in Decatur, Atlanta parks and residences in Buckhead, Stone Mountain, Decatur, Roswell, Gainesville, Athens, NW Atlanta and more within a 100 mi radius of Athens. For warm and fuzzy and green weed control; save the trees and regain access and use of your property

“Prescribed Grazing” employees livestock of varying stocking density and duration to achieve a vegetation management goal- usually to remove invasive plants in a difficult to reach or otherwise neglected site. Portable electric net fence is the relatively new technology that makes this ancient method of land clearing possible in today’s urban and residential landscapes of all sizes.

How does it work?  Many clients can resume maintenance of the site following one pass by sheep but usually there is an initial knockdown followed by repeated grazing passes or other treatment scheduled to prevent significant recovery and eventual depletion of root reserves which kills the invasive plants. Many factors including amount and type of vegetation, weather, and especially the amount of sunlight determine how much effort restoration will require. English ivy, one of our most frequent targets, is usually under fair to good control following two passes, depending on how well established and much sun it gets. However, once the invasive plants have been brought under control, and either canopy shade is good and desirable cover established, very little maintenance should be required- especially compared to a lawn.  The cost of reclamation should be factored over the many years of neglect and the recovered value of accessible green space to human health and happiness.