Seeing the Edge with NW Marketing Guy - Rod Brooks

Goat Renter Guy Visits Sammamish

Barking dog leads to meeting "Goat Renter Guy"

Our back yard backs up to a gravel alleyway between two housing developments. The lot in the adjacent development that is directly behind our house has never been built on. It was cleared once, but now it is filled with small alder trees and heavy growth of blackberries and underbrush. And on Friday, it was also covered with GOATS!

Moving throughout the blackberries and getting Chloe’s attention were more than 230 vine-chomping goats! That’s right. In our suburban neighborhood of Sammamish, Washington, where the most interesting wildlife we see are a few deer from time to time, were hundreds of goats, of various sizes, shapes and colors, meandering through prickly blackberry vines and munching up a storm. It was quite the sight.

I grabbed the camera and exited the back yard into the alleyway. A temporary fence to keep the goats from roaming too far had been installed around a large portion of the vacant lot. Inside the fence the goats were feasting as if they hadn’t eaten in days. And there, standing among them, was Craig Madsen – Goat Renter Guy! Just like PEMCO Northwest Profile Number 80.

Craig is the owner of “Healing Hooves”. His business card says that he is in the natural vegetation management and range consulting business. What that really means is that Craig owns goats and he will take his goats from their home in Edwall, Washington (about 45 minutes west of Spokane) to wherever a paying customer has underbrush to get rid of. He says the goats prefer blackberry vines and ivy. They were in blackberry heaven where I found them.

I introduced myself to Craig and told him that I am the CMO of PEMCO Insurance and that we had featured another Goat Renter Guys goats in one of our television commercials a year or two ago. Craig was very familiar with the commercial and he said he often partners with the Goat Renter who owns the goats that made it big on TV.

  

It was fun seeing the goats and Goat Renter Guy in action, almost in my own back yard. I told Craig I would be sure to send Goat Renter Guy tee shirts for him and his wife to wear on the job. 

That got a big smile from Craig, who quickly called his wife to tell her of our unexpected meeting. Craig expects the goats to finish the job by end of the day on Sunday. Then they’ll be off to another briar patch!