Who does Ragnar love? It rhymes with boats!

Ahhhh Just a quick little post to hopefully make you smile! No long discussion or debate… Ragnar has bad luck with women and friends, but his goats don’t talk back (Ok, maybe they do but it’s cute when they do it!), they’re easily satisfied with a cuddle now and then, they won’t betray him or desert him, and when they die he can just find another to replace them! They also earn their keep and don’t complain too much about it! Ragnar loves his goats, and who can really blame him?

So, in honor of Ragnar’s goats, I have found a very special herd of goats working hard to earn their keep and make the world a better place, one field at a time!

As I said, these are special goats and they deserve some credit and appreciation!  I live in the San Francisco Bay area, where we do not normally get many visits from goat herds. Recently, however, we have had the chance to watch these workers up close on a regular basis! I was pleasantly surprised and amused a few weeks ago to find them happily chewing away at the dried grass and shrubs in an underpass area near my home. They put a smile on my face and I was then curious about these happy workers.

These goat herds are part of a project by  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) located in Berkeley, CA. Berkeley Lab works with a local goat ranch to provide an organic and environmentally sound method of clearing vegetation and overgrowth in urban areas. The goat herds clear large areas of hillside as well as more difficult to maintain underpass areas.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)

http://www.lbl.gov/about/

 

The goats are owned by Goats R Us, a local ranch in Orinda, CA. 

Goats R Us is a family owned and operated grazing company. Established in 1995, our livestock are used primarily for fuel mitigation and the eradication of undesirable plant species. We provide communities with environmentally friendly vegetation management as well as public education about alternatives to traditional abatement techniques.

http://www.goatsrus.com/index.htm

Check out their website to learn more about their company and their goats! They are providing a environmentally sound service that benefits everyone, including the goats! This is their hope and goal for the future of their business: 

CONTINUED EXPANSION In the coming years, Goats R Us plans to continue to grow and meet the demands of our clients. Our near-term goals involve returning to work on smaller parcels for private landowners as well as expanding the scope of our work. We would like to increase our collaboration with range and fire ecologists, restoration ecologists, and soil scientists to offer a more complete package to our clients.

RESTORATION With the growing interest in habitat restoration, Goats R Us is hoping to expand the use of goats as a tool for repairing damaged grasslands. Goats prefer different forage species than cattle, and so may be able to compensate for changes in plant dominance resulting from single-species grazing. In addition, goats will eat many highly invasive species that are undesirable by other grazers, such as blooming Yellow Star Thistle and mustard species.