Post by easye on Aug 10, 2023 9:43:33 GMT -5
Why? Because I own Goats and like to read stories about Goats in the news. There are a surprising number of Goat stories over the past few months.
In California, wildfires are prevented by crews of unlikely firefighters: goats
www.npr.org/2023/08/10/1192905277/goat-grazing-california-wildfire-prevention
The end of a quiet residential street in Glendale, Calif., is just one of many battlegrounds in the state's annual fight against wildfire season. And it's being waged by goats.
About 300 of them are spread out along the foothills and steep ridges of the Verdugo Mountains, which loom over multi-million dollar homes at the end of a cul de sac. The goats are busy chomping away on the dried-out vegetation that's exploded after this year's drought-busting rains.
Seemingly oblivious to the 94 F heat, the animals are hard at work devouring several acres of dead, yellowed grasses, scrubby bushes and cactus, as well as some of southern California's most invasive plants, including star thistle and black mustard.
"There's very little they won't eat. Even things that seem impossible. I don't know how their digestive systems deal with it, but they do," Michael Choi told NPR, squinting out at his herd from under a brown felt cowboy hat.
Choi, 30, is the owner of Fire Grazers Inc., a service that uses its herds of goats to clear brush from hillsides, flatlands and other hard-to-climb terrain. It's a family business that he took over from his father a few years ago and now runs with two other brothers.
I have used my goats as organic lawn mowers in my "yard" and they are very good at clearing out areas of vegetation. However, you have to be careful they do not eat things you do not want them to eat. They love to eat trees, so you have keep an eye on them or protect the trees with fencing before letting them loose.
It is interesting that Goats are often linked to Desertification because they are so voracious.
In California, wildfires are prevented by crews of unlikely firefighters: goats
www.npr.org/2023/08/10/1192905277/goat-grazing-california-wildfire-prevention
The end of a quiet residential street in Glendale, Calif., is just one of many battlegrounds in the state's annual fight against wildfire season. And it's being waged by goats.
About 300 of them are spread out along the foothills and steep ridges of the Verdugo Mountains, which loom over multi-million dollar homes at the end of a cul de sac. The goats are busy chomping away on the dried-out vegetation that's exploded after this year's drought-busting rains.
Seemingly oblivious to the 94 F heat, the animals are hard at work devouring several acres of dead, yellowed grasses, scrubby bushes and cactus, as well as some of southern California's most invasive plants, including star thistle and black mustard.
"There's very little they won't eat. Even things that seem impossible. I don't know how their digestive systems deal with it, but they do," Michael Choi told NPR, squinting out at his herd from under a brown felt cowboy hat.
Choi, 30, is the owner of Fire Grazers Inc., a service that uses its herds of goats to clear brush from hillsides, flatlands and other hard-to-climb terrain. It's a family business that he took over from his father a few years ago and now runs with two other brothers.
I have used my goats as organic lawn mowers in my "yard" and they are very good at clearing out areas of vegetation. However, you have to be careful they do not eat things you do not want them to eat. They love to eat trees, so you have keep an eye on them or protect the trees with fencing before letting them loose.
It is interesting that Goats are often linked to Desertification because they are so voracious.
