‘Lambscaping’ crew of sheep and goats clears brush from yards
By Juli McDonald
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FRANKLIN, Massachusetts (WBZ) — The grass sure is greener when you’ve got the cutest landscaping crew around. “Lambscaping” actually, and this hungry herd is on the job in Franklin, Massachusetts this week.
“I tell people when this is done, an area that was full of thorns and poison ivy, you’ll be able to walk through in your flip flops. And you don’t have to do anything! If it’s a normal area that a normal mower can fit, I’m probably not the cheapest. If it’s like this, rocks and terrain and just really ugly brush, then they do a great job,” said Russ Jennings of Lambscaping RI.
This fun fluffy idea was born during the pandemic – but not as a business. Russ who works in IT had more time at home, and figured he’d get a couple sheep to help maintain his own property.
“I’d always heard the White House used sheep to mow the lawn during the Great Depression. I had all the brush that everyone in New England does, poison ivy and the bittersweet. They would follow me and eat it. And then it was gone. After a while there was no more brush left to feed them!” he said.
He wondered if people would pay for this. The only problem: he drove a Prius! So, Russ found an agricultural hauler and worked the delivery fee into his pricing.
Exciting and successful business
“We spent the first year booked solid and it’s been busy ever since. In that time, I’ve been able to get a truck, a trailer, I’ve expanded. I started with two sheep and two goats. Now I have 10 sheep and five goats,” Jennings said.
Jobs range from a couple of days to a couple of weeks; Jennings sets up fencing, drops them off, then checks daily on their wellbeing and progress. It’s been exciting and successful – a lesson to anyone with an idea and some initiative.
“I’d been an IT guy my whole life,” Jennings said. “Sheep are about the farthest thing from an AI powered supercomputer and that’s what I was messing with. I like having animals. I do miss having horses growing up. I figured let’s just try it. Let’s get two sheep and see what happens!”
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