Goats have an all-consuming job for safety

Since last week, some 30 retired dairy goats have been grazing on the grass between Longview and Moreland drives alongside a public trail extending into a parking lot at Skyline College. Contained by a fence in a 2-acre section of the site, they move in small groups, chewing constantly and simultaneously cutting down on the fire risk their food poses.

By eating invasive plants covering hard-to-reach, hillside terrain, the goats are not only clearing the path for native species, they are also bringing peace of mind to neighbors of the jail concerned about the brush becoming kindling for a fire, said Ramirez.

“They’re a really good example of sustainable land management,” he said. “They come in here, they eat away at the stuff you don’t want, let the native species flourish. … For us, it’s a win-win.”

San Bruno allows safe and sane fireworks — meaning those that do not fly in the air or explode — and Ramirez said concerns about fires run especially high leading up to and following the Fourth of July. Given the jail’s location in a valley, noise from lawn mowers and other machines can echo and disturb its neighbors, he said. And because anyone operating machinery near the jail would have to go through background checks, working with goats means they can get started on the job as soon as they arrive on site.

“I don’t have to background check Joey over there,” he joked.

As part of the herd maintained by the San Francisco-based nonprofit City Grazing, the 25 goats that started grazing outside the jail last week are to be joined by 60 more goats in the coming weeks so they can clear brush on some 8 acres of land through the end of September, said Genevieve Church, City Grazing’s executive director.

Church said public agencies and homeowners with overgrown properties have opted for goat grazing for several reasons, including the environmental benefits of maintaining soil nutrients. Instead of cutting grasses and plants and hauling them away, which can strip top soil of its nutrients, goats not only trim plants but they return the nutrients back to the top soil, she explained.

Church said that, by happy coincidence, the 100-goat herd she manages prefers invasive species in many cases, noting they like to eat the Himalayan blackberry on the jail site but tend to pass on the native California blackberry, which enhances the understory of the trees along the public trail. By passing through a goat’s digestive system, an invasive plant’s seeds become less viable, which helps clear the way for native grasses, for example, which can expand their root systems, she said.

With average life spans of 10 to 12 years, City Grazing’s goats are in retirement from yearslong careers as dairy goats by the time they become part of Church’s herd, which offers them a somewhat easier life.

“It’s really kind of a tough life,” she said, of dairy goats. “They have a few years left when they’re done and we love taking them in and making them part of our herd. Now all they have to do is eat for their second career.”

Church said groups as small as five goats have been hired to trim backyards, and larger subsets of the herd or the entire herd can be hired to clear larger areas. When it comes to clearing brush, the ecological benefits of hiring a herd of goats are many, said Church. But she noted that they’re also lauded for bringing a community together.

“It’s just so much fun and it gives that back to the community,” she said.

Ramirez said the goats have already proven popular among sheriff’s deputies, who have gone out to watch them during lunch breaks, leading him to wonder whether children and families visiting loved ones at the jail may be able to crack a smile at the sight of them as well.

“Anything that people can get out of the goats, that is positive,” he said.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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