Here, only goats can prevent airport fires
San Francisco airport uses 400 goats to clear brush in environmentally-sensitive area
By | Associated Press – 19 hours agoRelated Content
View Photo In this Wednesday, June 19, 2013,photo, a goat grazes on a patch of San Francisco International Airport land in San Francisco.. San Francisco airport is using 400 goats to clear from an area of the airport prone to fire. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Last month, officials at San Francisco International Airport
hired a herd of part-time employees to toil on the west side of the
property and engage in an unusual — but environmentally friendly — form
of fire prevention.
Anyone looking down from a plane departing the airport may have wondered, What's with the goats?
For two weeks in June, Mr. Fuzzy,
Cookie, Mable, Alice and nearly 400 other goats chomped on the brush in
a remote corner of the airport. The area needs to be cleared each
spring to protect nearby homes from potential fires. But machines or
humans can't be used because two endangered species — the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog — live there.
It's not exactly the type of job
you advertise in the local classifieds. So, for the past five years
officials have turned to Goats R Us, a small brush-removal company run
by Terri Oyarzun, her husband Egon and their son Zephyr.
The airport paid $14,900 for the service this year.
The goats travel 30 miles each spring from their home in Orinda, Calif. to the airport in a 16-wheel truck that Oyarzun
calls her "livestock limo." They come with a goat herder and a Border
Collie named Toddy Lynn. The goats spend two weeks cutting away a
20-foot firebreak on the west side of the airport.
"When passengers take off and fly over the goats, I'm sure that's a thrill," Oyarzun says.
Whatever the emotion, it isn't reserved for air travelers. When Oyarzun's goats aren't clearing brush at the airport, they're munching away on the side of California's freeways, at state parks, under long-distance electric lines and anywhere else with overgrown vegetation. The family has about 4,000 total active goats on its payroll.
Working at an airport does come with its own set of challenges, namely loud, frightening jets constantly taking off.
"There was an adjustment period," Oyarzun said. "But they have a lot of confidence in their herder."
The goats did their job. "We're pleased with our organic process for weed abatement," said airport spokesman Doug Yakel.
At least one other airport has taken note. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has requested bids for goats to clear brush in an out of the way area of the airport's 7,000-acre property and expects them to be at the airport sometime this summer.
When goats become too old to work, they are typically sold for meat. But fear not, Mr. Fuzzy, Cookie, Mable, Alice won't end up at the slaughterhouse. The Oyarzun family lets its goats peacefully retire at its farm.
At least one part of air travel is still humane.
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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.
end quote from:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/only-goats-prevent-airport-fires-133344442.html
The main reason people use goats to prevent forest fires throughout the state in some areas near where people live or at airports is it is much less expensive than hiring people to do this. Also, a goat will even eat poison oak with no ill effects. In fact goats are so hardy they sometimes might even things like tin cans and plastic even though that might be hazardous to their innards. So, in areas where there is poison oak and you likely wouldn't want to send humans into and have then laid up for a month from getting poison oak, goats are immune (because of the hair on their skin) from getting poison oak and will eat almost anything that they can reach on their hind legs while standing upon the highest object there.
The eat about 100 acres of land near where I live too each year. They clear out the underbrush and everything easy to reach but if they aren't there very long they don't eat the bark off of trees. Since they mostly want to clear out brush and weeds they are great for this. A goat herder brings in a small trailer and using plastic fencing keeps them in a one acre or less area for a day or two and then moves them to another place to eat. He provides them with water and protects them from coyotes and other animals. Often they leave their horns on so they can better protect themselves too from wild animals and dogs.
Also, in the 1980s sometimes I owned goats and rabbits and even sold goat milk and goat cheese to friends and acquaintances if we had more than we needed. I have raised Alpines, Nubians and even had an African Pygmy Goat that we called Barney. We left his horns on so he could defend himself from dogs or wild animals on the 7 acres we rented then. But, those horns could hurt if he wanted attention and your weren't looking. If there are a lot of wild animals and you don't lock your goats in a barn at night it might be important to leave the horns or some of them so they can defend themselves in a pinch. But remember you have to survive those horns too. Our favorite rabbit breed we raised were Fuzzy Lops which can make good pets. However, one thing I didn't know until recently is that rabbits have to be able to eat their own poop to stay alive. it's the way their digestion works. If they poop and you clean it all up they will die like our favorite house trained fuzzy lop did eventually because we didn't know this.
Also, in the 1980s sometimes I owned goats and rabbits and even sold goat milk and goat cheese to friends and acquaintances if we had more than we needed. I have raised Alpines, Nubians and even had an African Pygmy Goat that we called Barney. We left his horns on so he could defend himself from dogs or wild animals on the 7 acres we rented then. But, those horns could hurt if he wanted attention and your weren't looking. If there are a lot of wild animals and you don't lock your goats in a barn at night it might be important to leave the horns or some of them so they can defend themselves in a pinch. But remember you have to survive those horns too. Our favorite rabbit breed we raised were Fuzzy Lops which can make good pets. However, one thing I didn't know until recently is that rabbits have to be able to eat their own poop to stay alive. it's the way their digestion works. If they poop and you clean it all up they will die like our favorite house trained fuzzy lop did eventually because we didn't know this.
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