Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
California firefighters are enlisting help from some unusual allies to prevent more deadly wildfires from ripping across the state -- goats.
The Ventura County Fire Department is releasing hundreds of goats next week north of Los Angeles to eat dead brush that could become fuel for a fires.
"They'll eat until we like the way the landscape looks, and then we move them to another area," Captain Ken VanWig, who oversees the department's vegetation management program, said in an interview. "They're very effective."
-- submitted from IRC
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California Dispatches Goats to Eat Brush, Prevent Wildfires
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:02PM (5 children)
If beavers are nature's ecologists, goats are nature's landscapers.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:07PM (4 children)
I thought beavers were nature's engineers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:45PM
They are ecologists who use engineering skills to achieve their goals. The beavers are currently trying to turn the arctic full blue water and green land by the end of the decade. https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/invading-beavers-turn-tundra-to-ponds/ [scientificamerican.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:22PM (1 child)
> I thought beavers were nature's engineers.
Can they design and build a big rocket before SLS ever launches?
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:58PM
They certainly can build just about anything before SLS launches 3 times.
Anything can be achieved long before SLS launches 3 times, including fusion power plants, sanity in US politics, peace on Earth, and getting my boss to stop screwing up schedules.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:04PM
I thought beavers were.....
Oh, hang on, never mind.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:43PM
Like Little Jamaica... they know what to do with excess goats.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:43PM (4 children)
Watch the area drowning in mudslide.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:20PM (1 child)
Configure the goats to eat the plants only down to a certain length, leaving some plant stubble, but not a fire hazard. Put that in the next sprint.
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:07PM
I believe this is coded in the hunting season laws - give bounties for kills when the grass is getting to the right length.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:50PM (1 child)
Doesn't fertilizer burn really well?
Seriously, it degrades quickly so not a problem. This will only slow the speed of spreading fires; they will likely still have a fire from an idiot or a bad power line and the dry plants will still exist-- they are not going to chop down all the trees. Not to mention a lot of those CA houses look really flammable. You'd think they would change building code etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:24PM
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:44PM (13 children)
Sounds like a make-work scheme for hipsters.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:51PM (7 children)
Nope, goats have been used this way for a long time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:05PM (1 child)
That's quite enough of your sexual fantasies AC.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:17PM
anonymous coward: Your honor, I object! I was not molesting squirrels in the public park!
judge: The officer's body camera footage says differently.
anonymous coward: Judge, how can you believe someone who does not even know the difference between a squirrel and a chipmonk?
judge: Is there any material difference?
anonymous coward: Yes your honor! A chipmonk has really soft fur that feels good against your skin. I still maintain I was not molesting squirrels in the park!
judge: Objection overruled. That will be 16 hours community service while listening to Justin Bieber music.
anonymous coward: Nooooooooo!
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by zocalo on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:23PM (4 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:26PM (3 children)
That's not new either. The East Bay Regional Park system has used goat the clear the brush for over a decade. I do worry that they're also eating the seedling trees, however. That's what happened to the famous "Cedars of Lebanon".
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:08PM (2 children)
Goats are everywhere!
I just saw this today [gothamist.com]:
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday May 08 2019, @08:37PM (1 child)
Whether it's in CA or some run-down park in NY or Detroit, the other advantage of goats over humans is they do a comprehensive job.
No getting afraid, or getting tired, or conveniently forgetting the smelly corner, or any of the other things your gardener may just happen to be inconvenienced by.
A swarm of a few hundred million crickets also has that benefit, but is a lot less tasty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:48PM
I guess you don't know New York, or how the parks there are managed.
The loss is yours.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:58PM (2 children)
No joke, there are goat rental landscaping services. You pay someone to place goats on your property for a while to eat things up.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:29PM
Also, in rural areas like where I am, there's sometimes even informal arrangements to do that without payments: The goat farmer gets some extra pasture they can work with, the property owner gets an easy lawn mowing, and the goats get more food. Everyone wins.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Informative) by bmimatt on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:11PM
Check this out for a 4 day time lapse of 20 goats cleaning up backyard shrub [youtube.com]
Apparently, they even feed at some intervals at night.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:03PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:11PM
A new generation of goatkeepers arises in, predictably, California. When will they swap the bear on the flag for a more fitting goat?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:58PM (16 children)
The goats will eat the plants they like, and leave others, requiring a human pass over the hillside anyway.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:22PM (6 children)
Goats will eat, or try to eat basically anything. Grass, shrubs, trees, weeds, tin cans, cardboard, clothing, car tires...
Leave them in an area and all that will be left is the trash they found inedible.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:30PM
https://www.goats-in-the-backyard.com/do-goats-eat-tin-cans.html [goats-in-the-backyard.com]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:27PM (1 child)
Goats don't actually eat tin cans, the just nibble at the paper label.
OTOH, they did eat the plastic top to my mother's car, and a bunch of fiberglass insulation that she was installing.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:05PM
They must not have taste buds. Or pain nerves. Or maybe just no brains?
(Score: 4, Funny) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:18PM
Can I make it fit in my mouth? ---yes---> It's food
\---no---> It's food, find way to make fit.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:10PM
We visited a state park that had a few goats in a pen. To entice the goats to the fence for the kids, I broke off a branch of something or other and dangled it over the fence - it worked, of course, 3 seconds later all the goats were at the fence munching on the branch.
A few seconds later we walked around a corner in the fence and, I noticed a "do not feed the goats" sign, printed on 8.5x11 paper and stapled to the fence in a plastic sleeve. The goats followed us around the corner, reached up over the fence and proceeded to eat the sign, plastic cover and all.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:25AM
Knew a guy who was a wildlife biologist and worked in the Middle East. He said there are feral goats in the Saudi desert, where NOTHING grows -- seems the goats survive by eating newspaper that blows out of the cities.
Goats can be taught to prefer some particular plant, but when they get hungry, there's pretty much nothing they won't try to eat.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:09PM (7 children)
Nah, goats will eat anything pretty much. They look upon briars as a delicacy even.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:14PM (4 children)
I have seen a goat eat both blackberry and gorse.
I have no idea how they do it, my theory is that their mouths are made of steel.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:34AM (3 children)
Having raised a few back in my youth, I'm pretty sure they're just too stupid to connect the pain in their mouth to what they're chewing on.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:45AM (2 children)
I wasn't sure about goats, but every time I eat lamb chops I think back to my youth working in shearing sheds, and how stupid, smelly and ill-tempered sheep are and I enjoy the revenge of eating their offspring all the more.
I hate sheep. Cows are pretty laid back usually, but sheep are arseholes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:15AM (1 child)
Those are heavily-bred sheep.
I have heritage variety sheep, and while they can be smelly if you confine them, out in the open they're fine. They're also quite smart - cunning even. And they're pretty mellow as long as they know you.
If they don't know you, and you try taking liberties with them, get used to the feeling of horns and hooves. But really, I can't blame them for that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:55AM
PartTimeZombie is from New Zealand. Taking liberties with a sheep has a whole different meaning down there.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:29AM (1 child)
Yeah, they seem to think giant thistles are delicious, even when they're dried up and can readily substitute for daggers and caltrops. Seen three goats reduce an acre of dead thistles (12 feet tall, not your average backyard thistle) to bare dirt in about a week.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:51AM
Me, I want some of them fainting goats. They clear all the garbage off your property and if you're having a bad day just step outside and yell at them for a quick laugh.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:02PM
Once the goats have converted sufficient biomass to poop, you can do prescribed burns safely.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Funny) by coolgopher on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:59PM (11 children)
We've got some other species for you that you might find useful. Like rabbits to help chew stuff up (and boy, do they breed like rabbits or what?!), foxes to uh.. chew rabbits (and any other wildlife), cane beetles (gotta protect your corn right, don't want sugar canes getting a leg up), cane toads (in case you want to try for the sugar canes after all, afterwards *cough*), camels (because you can't go wrong with packs of wild camels, right?), etc etc. Inquire with your nearest aussie today! (That'd probably be our resident Colo, fyi).
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:34PM (10 children)
Australia's rabbit problem was due to lack of predators. Around here hawk, dogs, etc., etc., even house cats, keep the population in check. My grandmother's cat brought in a jack-rabbit that was bigger than she was. I don't know why Australia's dingos didn't keep the rabbit population in check...perhaps people had been killing off the dingos, or maybe they were large enough that rabbits weren't that interesting when there were sheep and kangaroos around.
But rabbits don't take down brush unless there's a severe overpopulation problem. They don't like woody stems, and they aren't tall enough to reach the upper branches, where the important leaves are.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:07PM
My lawnmower loves to eat baby rabbits in the springtime.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:27PM (6 children)
Somewhere I have to think there is this frontal-like boundary with coyotes and such on one side and copious amounts of rabbits on the other.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:18AM (1 child)
Natural progression of population booms and busts based on predation and food cycles.
You get to see a lot of this if you study ecology.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:08AM
Ehhh....no. You see boom and bust cycles occasionally. And things like prime year katydids. That's not really a population boom, it just looks like it because they synchronize their emergence. But they've been growing up underground for over a decade. I think the lynx/snowshoe rabbit boom and bust cycle is the one that everyone notices, because the Hudson Bay Company gave it publicity. And there are plagues of locusts. But you don't see such cycles in most ecologic systems. They can be spectacular, but part of the reason they're so spectacular is that they're rare, and people tend to notice unusual things.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:34AM (3 children)
Lived in the desert where there were copious coyotes, and plagues of rabbits. Coyotes seemed to at least thin down the cottontails, but didn't do squat against the big jackrabbits -- which incidentally will jump onto lawn furniture in search of something tastier than sagebrush. (How I learned not to keep potted plants on outdoor tables in the desert.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:04AM (1 child)
I think jack rabbits can outrun coyotes. Which means that hawks are better. And owls. Unfortunately lots of predatory birds have had their population decimated by lead poisoning and ddt poisoning. I think they're currently in recovery.
But other stealth predators can also take them down. I'm sure my grandmother's cat grabbed one by the ears as it was emerging from its burrow. That said, I was a kid when I lived in jackrabbit country, and they weren't really a top interest. I'd just see them occasionally.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Friday May 10 2019, @01:40PM
Had enough owls that we couldn't grow cats fast enough...saw lots of evidence (burped up bones) that they ate small cottontails, but none that they took jacks. We had redtails but they didn't seem to have much influence either. However, now that you mention it... seems to me the jacks invaded after my resident ravens died off, and for whatever reason were not replaced despite being plenty around. The ravens definitely kept the starlings away, and I know they take baby cottontails, so...
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:22PM
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:19PM (1 child)
New Zealand's rabbit problem is also due to lack of predators. We do have native hawks, which will eat rabbits, and cats and dogs also, but they stand no chance at all of keeping rabbit populations down, as the little buggers breed like rabbits.
They will also pull up and eat grass roots once they've eaten everything else. Then the topsoil blows into the sea.
Introducing mammals into a land that never evolved any was a mistake.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by zdammit on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:24AM
The stoats fixed that though. </sarcasm>
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:08PM (2 children)
Will Verizon throttle the bandwidth for too many goats?
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:56PM (1 child)
Screaming or Fainting goats?
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Thursday May 09 2019, @10:48AM
goat.se
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:22PM (1 child)
I've a bad feeling there will be more dead drivers than saved wildfire victims.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2, Touché) by HiThere on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:35PM
Well, FWIW, every driver will eventually be dead...so you're bound to be right.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:48PM (1 child)
Anybody who drives around certain parts of California has seen goats used to knock down grass. It might have been novel 20 years ago, but it's pretty much standard practice now. It's not a silver bullet for fuel control, but it has its place.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:31PM
(Score: 3, Funny) by RamiK on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:42PM
A Californian pastoral
by RamiK
Come live with me and share your rack,
And we will all the woodlands hack,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing goats feast on shrubs,
By dried Rivers to whose crawls
cutoff ringtones of disconnected calls
And I will make thee beds of lilies
And a thousand dried up tulips,
A cap of potpourri, a blacksmith's apron
To tame the flames, To smother olfaction;
Vestments made of resistant wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Knee-high boots for the coals,
that we will slide off the poles;
A belt of leather and metal hooks,
holstering Pulaski, covered in soot;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
send me a selfie of your smexy nude.
The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 08 2019, @08:43PM (1 child)
November, I visited Pleasure, California. They say it used to be a nice little town. But when I saw it -- total and complete devastation. Known as Wildfire. I told them, cancel bad environmental laws, stop diverting water into the Pacific Ocean. Rake. And tree clear to stop fire from spreading. They do this, very successfully, in Finland. As told to me by President Niinisto. And I passed that one on to their Governor (now Ex) and Governor Elect (now Governor). To Crazy Jerry and to Gavin. Nobody knew they were listening, nobody thought they were listening. But, they listened. And, so incredible, they took my idea. And, made it even better. They're putting Goats -- which they have so many of (they party with them) -- in the Forest. It's a type of raking. But, without the rakes. Smart move. Very smart move. Next move, stop sending water to the Ocean. And send that water to your Forest instead. Because the Ocean has enough water. Your Forest doesn't have enough and it gets very dry. Fire comes through and it burns very badly. Very quickly. GET SMART!!!!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:18PM
Hey, fat boy, you wanted people to rake the forrest floor. And you want to take credit for some goats? Sounds about right for your administration.
Tweet Target: Rakes
Achievement : Goats
Declaration : Success!