More goat and sheep herds are needed to clear brush after this year's winter storms
EL DORADO HILLS — A four-legged friend of the firefighter is in high demand after our wet winter, but these goats need to get going. For the first time in years, they're having trouble keeping up with all the grass and weeds standing tall after our torrential rainfall.
That means there might just be too much to munch.
Herd loud and clear, one grass-munching gang is hard at work helping clear away fields of tall weeds and high brush that can lead to high summertime fire danger, in this case, for some El Dorado Hills homes.
"It's waiting to burn," Intergrazers owner Lee Hazeltine said of the brush. "We're seeing pretty much double what we have seen in the last few years."
That's creating a big demand for these types of vegetation management services.
"Our role is to reduce the combustible biomass so that a fire can't burn so hot to go from this open space to that house," Hazeltine said.
He says he needs to get more goats.
"There's twice as much biomass which means that the same number of animals can only cover half as many acres in the same amount of time," he said.
And Hazeltine's herd is growing in real time; each week, new babies are born right in the fields with the fresh grass providing high nutrition for nursing mothers.
This type of natural fire prevention has proven to work in the past. Last summer, goat grazing was credited with helping keep flames from burning condominiums in West Sacramento.
A fuel break created by Hazeltine's herd helped stop the Mosquito Fire from spreading in El Dorado County.
"We'd rather break down that carbon in the gut of an animal than with a fire," he said.
Hazeltine and others in charge are now hoping the number of goats will grow faster than the grass they're munching on.
The grass is so high in some parts, the City of Roseville said they've added an extra herd of goats this year — and they're not alone. Elk Grove says it may need two rounds of grazing this season to get rid of all that tall brush.