Blue Ridge Land Clearing is owned and operated by Dylan Gilbert, who is also the owner of Blue Ridge Cattle Company.
Gilbert was in the U.S Air Force. He attended Marion Military Institute. At Troy University, he studied business. Then, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he studied animal science and minored in grazing livestock systems.
Gilbert did a lot of volunteer work at a feed yard and had the opportunity to shadow nutritionists, veterinarians and feed truck drivers. He also worked as a 4-H agent and an Animal Sciences & Forages Extension Agent for the Alabama Extension at Auburn University.
The goat grazing business started when his daughter, Aurora, asked her father if they could get goats again. Gilbert said he jokingly told her, “You help build a fence, we’ll get more,” and for two weeks that’s what she did. “Every day she’d come in from daycare, she’d ask, ‘Hey, can we go outside and build a fence?’ Well, after about two weeks of that I finally was like, ‘Dang, maybe she’s serious.’”
It wasn’t too long after that, Gilbert said, when people started asking him if he loaned the goats out for land clearing.
“We started having people message our beef page and say, ‘Hey, y’all rent your goats out?’ Now, I didn’t even know that was a thing,” he said.
Last November, Gilbert said, he sat down and thought about it, wondering if anyone would actually be interested in such a thing. When May rolled around, Gilbert talked with his wife and made up his mind – he was going to take the risk and leave the Cullman County Extension Office to follow his dreams.
Gilbert said he started his Blue Ridge Land Clearing, and a family friend shared it.
“Within 12 hours, I had three estimates booked and one job and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness’ and I haven’t sat down since,” he laughed.
Gilbert credits his daughter, who is normally on jobs with her father, and his supporters for helping him take the first steps to doing what he loves
But Aurora isn’t the only partner Gilbert has. When father and daughter arrive on a job, their 6-year-old border collie is there hard at work, right along with the goats.
Blue Ridge Land Clearing brings out 90% of its own goats to graze on the property, where they stay fenced in until the job is done. The smaller goats eat about 4-5 pounds a day, whereas the larger ones eat 6-8 pounds a day – along with sodium bicarbonate, minerals and fresh water.
So how much does it cost for Blue Ridge Land Clearing to clear off your land? Gilbert said he’s happy to come to your location to walk the site and give you a free estimate. How long does it take the goats to clear land? Gilbert said it all depends on vegetation, terrain and access. While one job may take six days, others could take longer depending on the environment.
Gilbert said that in the future, he hopes to work closely with national forests to help with the removal of underbrush to prevent wildfires and continue to serve the public.
Contact Blue Ridge Land Clearing for a free estimate at Facebook/Blue Ridge Land Clearing,
205-495-8196 or bluerideglandclearing@gmail.com.
Jess (Emily McMunn/The Cullman Tribune)
