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May 1, 2009 2:23 PM PDT

Things to make you happy: Google employs goats

by Caroline McCarthy
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Google's goat army.

(Credit: Official Google Blog)

The economy is still in shambles, we're all panicking about the bacon fever, and even those bright and shiny "green" initiatives might not be so green. Sad!

But did you know that Google is conserving energy by cutting its Mountain View, Calif., lawns with adorable goats?

Yes, it's true. The company has enlisted an innovative start-up called California Grazing to bring some of the Google greenery a more carbon-friendly, less polluting alternative to lawn mowers. It sounds like the use of goats is confined to peripheral fields where weeds and brush could cause wildfires, so it's not like Googlers run the risk of having goats wander into their office buildings. No word on whether they pay the goats in leftover free food from the company mess halls.

"A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time," a post on the official Google blog read. "The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers."

Happy Friday!

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
Topics:

Non Sequitur

Tags:

Google,

humor,

goats,

green tech,

biology,

sustainability

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) (36 Comments)
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by Nocturnex May 1, 2009 3:01 PM PDT
all i can say is, what the ****?<br /><br />i know going green is all the rage right now, and i love google and everything about it, but ive been noticing green has been starting to go a little overkill lately and this is the pinnacle of that overkill..
Reply to this comment
by RammerRW May 1, 2009 3:17 PM PDT
I don't see any reason to not use goats. I think it's a great solution - the goats get fed and Google's lawn gets mowed It's economic for both Google and California Grazing.
by mrorie May 1, 2009 3:31 PM PDT
And it's probably a lot quieter, too. I'd rather get woken up by a goat than by a guy with a leafblower outside my window at 6:30 AM.
by Seaspray0 May 1, 2009 4:50 PM PDT
"pinnacle of that overkill.. " No, that's what happens to the goat that gets fired. Bar-B-Que anyone?
by carlhage May 3, 2009 1:53 AM PDT
It's not the lawn, it's the grassy fields and hills. Google's goats aren't hired to be eco-friendly-- they are there to cut costs. I first saw the goat herds and sheep dog walking the baylands in Sunnyvale and wondered, what the ..? Then I read the city hired goat herds to mow the grass because it was cheaper and safer than a mechanical mower. The grass was over landfill and contains sprinklers to irrigate the cover grass. With a mechanical mower, there is a big problem with damage to the sprinklers. So goats were used as a money saving measure-- not as a result of a going green project. I would guess that Google saw the economics from the city of Sunnyvale, so probably hired the same herders. Note, they have to pay the goats to eat the grass, not the other way around. I don't know why they need to cut the grass though-- I suppose weed control.
by mattflaschen May 3, 2009 10:21 PM PDT
Why is it overkill? They specifically said it cost about the same, and it's better for the environment. What's the down-side?
by wombat527 May 1, 2009 3:39 PM PDT
Pinnacle? At least this makes some kind of sense ( grass gets so dry in CA summers that mowers themselves can be a fire hazard, and goats do better on slopes.)<br /><br />As far as your point that any dingbat project can get a hearing just by labeling itself " green": we're nowhere near the pinnacle. The madness has barely begun
Reply to this comment
by bonesonrong May 1, 2009 4:16 PM PDT
That's right back when my goat 486'S were fresh out of the thrift store, Ivisited CNET as one of my first news sight and to this day goats or no goats CNETis the authority asd superior dotcom yet. et al. ESP. read down to the ZDnet article.
by jumpjetta May 1, 2009 3:44 PM PDT
Never mind that the goats produce methane, a greenhouse gas. Still, probably not as bad as a gas-powered lawnmower.
Reply to this comment
by rhsc May 1, 2009 4:18 PM PDT
You also produce methane. The green death squad smells your farts, biding their time, till the day comes, and you shall not know the day nor the hour until it's too late.<br /><br /><br />Man, i should sell that idea to hollywood
by celticbrewer May 4, 2009 7:40 AM PDT
Agreed, and their waste, during rain, will contaminate runoff to the water supply. Then there's the smell, the upkeep (ie vet bills), and other things to consider. <br /> <br />I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but there's always tradeoffs and it's not a "green" as it seems on the surface. The greenest solution would be to replace the lawn with native plants that don't need to be mowed in the first place.
by bonesonrong May 1, 2009 4:21 PM PDT
Any green is fine for goats.
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by mj303 May 1, 2009 4:46 PM PDT
In Canada in some of the smaller towns, they have been using goats/cows to maintain yards and land for years. Its an excellent idea!
Reply to this comment
by cyberspittle May 1, 2009 5:36 PM PDT
How green is methene? Instead of trimming the plants, why not let them grow in order to increase Oxygen production?
Reply to this comment
by scwuffy May 2, 2009 12:34 AM PDT
Because in California in the same way as in Australia, there is very little wet stuff falling from the sky in summer. Then for various reasons the dried leaves that are no longer producing oxygen catch fire, then you have big FIRESTORMS that burn HOMES and PEOPLE &#38; many other things. <br />SO we find different ways of getting rid of all this fuel, Google hire a herd of Goats (looking at the pictures I think they are the Boer variety which is bred for meat). Personally I Have A Nubian Goat &#38; 5 Cattle. Last time we had a fire here it stopped at my fence line and burnt its way around, no crispy critters on my place. Recommend you go out &#38; see some countryside before you make judgement on methods of agricultural usage.
by BenFlavoredCandy May 4, 2009 4:50 AM PDT
Because those goats wouldn't be producing methane if they weren't at Google...
by AppleSuxLeo May 1, 2009 5:55 PM PDT
While Apple sells to sheep !
Reply to this comment
by SlimGem May 1, 2009 6:15 PM PDT
Your wife bought a Mac?
by marap May 1, 2009 8:34 PM PDT
So what is Google doing with that leftover "Goat ****" ? Another new innovation, maybe yeah !!!! Something to power Google Data centers ?
Reply to this comment
by techie_guy4 May 1, 2009 9:12 PM PDT
Finally you guys came to know that evolution is bad.. you guys used to make fun of under developed countries .. now congratulation for moving one step in that direction.. lol..<br /><br />goats.. cows.. no electricity,, no tv's.. no cars.. no roads.. just trees and natural living.. welcome to green world :-)
Reply to this comment
by clamenza May 2, 2009 6:00 PM PDT
Instead of smog-filled cities or "rush-hours", yeah, ain't polluting great?
by JCPayne May 1, 2009 11:15 PM PDT
Nice.... Now that just means nobody better bend over on that lawn or else they'll catch a healthy ramming from behind.... (_x_) -- OUCH!
Reply to this comment
by JCPayne May 1, 2009 11:17 PM PDT
It is well known that you don't bend-over with goats around, because they love to head-butt people right in the rear....
by scwuffy May 2, 2009 12:39 AM PDT
Just don't put your face in front of 'em, won't do that a second time. And that one was being playful, oooh the pain, the pain!
by HyraxX May 2, 2009 2:11 PM PDT
Does PETA agree with this?
Reply to this comment
by shootfirst May 2, 2009 9:53 PM PDT
I'm gonna go to google's field and get bit and sue them. One thing about lawnmowers, it won't try to bite you. Next they are going to remove power supplies from their servers and replace them with hamsters running in little wheels...
Reply to this comment
by brambleberry May 4, 2009 4:19 AM PDT
Goats don't bite people as a rule. They only have teeth on the top, not the bottom, so are equipped to eat brush. If you met a goat, you might have a different perspective.
by sargess25 May 3, 2009 3:15 AM PDT
to each its own - consider that also other IT behemoths have employed animals to perform specific duties. M$ has got a roly-poly monkey that slingshots from TV studios to IT conferences to verbally abuse rivals.<br /><br />They've nicknamed that corpulent monkey: Steve B.
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by kaiser1234 May 3, 2009 2:46 PM PDT
The goats probably omit methan which is worse for the environment then CO2 produced lawnmowers.
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by celticbrewer May 4, 2009 7:43 AM PDT
hmm. how about hydrogen lawnmowers? or at the very least- electric. Google has enough solar arrays, right? Problem solved.
by sunnyvalesteve May 3, 2009 11:19 PM PDT
like much at Google, Yahoo has been doing this for years, but without the fanfare. It's a euphemism to say the goats are mowing "hills," it's actually landfill
Reply to this comment
by brambleberry May 4, 2009 4:17 AM PDT
The picture with the article looks a lot like my goat herd. <br /> <br />News flash: goats don't eat grass unless they are starving. They browse on weeds and brush. <br /> <br />Google will have to do what I do: get some cows to come in after the goats clear the brush. Then you'll have nice neat lawns and fields. Except for the cow manure. Oh, well. It'll compost. That fertilizes the fields. It all works out, and it definitely is ecologically sound practice.
Reply to this comment
by DougSelf May 4, 2009 9:35 AM PDT
The city of Seattle has been doing this for some time even to clear brush from freeway medians, scrap land, etc. I think it's a great idea, the goats were going to be somewhere eating producing that methane anyway, why not put them to practical use?
Reply to this comment
by kaifanun May 4, 2009 12:13 PM PDT
I don't know why this is such a big news. Companies and Government agencies, such as Fire Departments in Los Angeles were been doing this long time.
Reply to this comment
by MadLyb May 4, 2009 12:33 PM PDT
As an owner of many sheeps and goats, this is an imperfect solution for several key reasons. <br /> <br /> - First, they do not eat every plant that may grow, so weeds will still grow up. <br /> - Second, the waste from these animals can be pretty nasty, both in smell and chemical makeup. <br /> - Third, they do not fertilize evenly resulting in dark green patches that grow quicker than the surrounding areas. <br /> - Finally, unlike cattle or horses, they will graze the grass to the ground allowing weed growth. <br /> <br />As I said, we own several sheep and goats and we still have to bush-hog the land they graze, and condition the soil with lime and fertilizers and rotate them through various fields to allow recovery. I would never consider them a perfect replacement for a mower or fertilizing.
Reply to this comment
by semwisdomblog May 4, 2009 2:01 PM PDT
How does a goat chewing on Google grass look?<br />Check out this visual:<br />http://www.semwisdom.com/blog/google-hiring-goats
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