Cynthia wrote:

Does anyone know if there are any native animals which one can attract into
the graden which eat grass only - and not the other plants in the garden.

I'm looking for something which will keep the grass short and save me from
having to mow it myself :-)

If there is such a creature, would you know if it comes with it's own set of
problems and how to keep them under control?

Cynthia.

The only native grazing animal that I can think of would be a kangaroo
of some description. D'you *really* want a 'roo flolloping around your
back yard? The thing about grazers is that most of them have hard hooves
and most of them need to be able to roam over an extensive area. There's
little nutrition in grass and so *huge* amounts of it have to be eaten
daily. There would not be enough grass in a back yard to keep even a
small grazer alive for very long.

We-e-ll...

I s'pose you could think of a rabbit or guinea-pig, but I don't think
such an animal would eat at a quick enough rate to keep the lawn in
check... - and then there'd be the roaming cat danger... - and think of
All That Poo! - and the smell (of the animals *and* the poo)!

My sister has borrowed a friend's goat to 'mow' her grass from time to
time. After about a week of being tethered in the yard, the goat had
eaten some parts of the lawn down to bare earth and left others alone.
She managed to eat the foliage from the bottoms of four camellias,
effectively standardising them overnight. She had also eaten four and a
half pair of socks, two pair of knickers and a tennis ball! She jumped
the side fence and nearly hanged herself. Oh and she butted the milkman
and my youngest niece.

Mowing seems easier to me...
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia