Derrick
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Google has employed 200 goats to mow the lawn at its Mountain View headquarters in California, according to the company blog.
Instead of the usual lawn mowers and maintenance crew a herdsman, from a company called California Grazing, transports the goats to the grounds and lets them roam around, eating the excess grass and weeds for about a week.
In this way the goats reduce the fire risk at the grounds, keep the lawn trim and fertilize the soil at the same time. They are kept in check by a popular Border Collie named Jen and are collected at the end of the week and transported to their next project.
The reason why goats and not cows for example were selected is due to the fact that goats are grazing animals and would rather eat weeds and plants than grass. In this way they are far more effective than their bovine counterparts at keeping unwanted plant life at bay.
Google has explained that hiring the goats cost about the same amount as a maintenance crew. The only difference is that the maintenance crew use fuel hungry, carbon emitting lawnmowers and outdoors tools. The goats are Google’s “low carbon approach” to garden maintenance.
Although this may be an admirable, yet somewhat strange, policy the reality is that one of the major causes of global warming is an excess of methane in the atmosphere. It has been scientifically proven that a given mass of methane in the atmosphere will have 21 times the effect on global warming as an equal amount of carbon dioxide over 100 years.
Who are the culprits? Domestic animals; more specifically cows and goats.
Instead of the usual lawn mowers and maintenance crew a herdsman, from a company called California Grazing, transports the goats to the grounds and lets them roam around, eating the excess grass and weeds for about a week.
In this way the goats reduce the fire risk at the grounds, keep the lawn trim and fertilize the soil at the same time. They are kept in check by a popular Border Collie named Jen and are collected at the end of the week and transported to their next project.
The reason why goats and not cows for example were selected is due to the fact that goats are grazing animals and would rather eat weeds and plants than grass. In this way they are far more effective than their bovine counterparts at keeping unwanted plant life at bay.
Google has explained that hiring the goats cost about the same amount as a maintenance crew. The only difference is that the maintenance crew use fuel hungry, carbon emitting lawnmowers and outdoors tools. The goats are Google’s “low carbon approach” to garden maintenance.
Although this may be an admirable, yet somewhat strange, policy the reality is that one of the major causes of global warming is an excess of methane in the atmosphere. It has been scientifically proven that a given mass of methane in the atmosphere will have 21 times the effect on global warming as an equal amount of carbon dioxide over 100 years.
Who are the culprits? Domestic animals; more specifically cows and goats.