{"id":58056,"date":"2024-10-02T01:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T09:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/?p=58056"},"modified":"2024-10-02T15:12:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T23:12:23","slug":"good-goats-make-good-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2024\/10\/02\/good-goats-make-good-neighbors\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Goats Make Good Neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/div>

On a sunny California day, Ricky Bobby the goat chomps across a hillside with the speed and pizazz of his NASCAR driver namesake from\u00a0Talladega Nights<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>

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Along with his fellow herd members, all employed by the nonprofit\u00a0Happy Goat<\/a> to reduce wildfire risks, Ricky Bobby is doing what he does best, gobbling up weeds, shrubs, and leaves from low-hanging branches. No plant appears to be too much of a challenge, including poison oak and spiky live-oak leaves. He and 100 caprine teammates can clear about an acre a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think that this is a hope of the future\u2014organizations like them who really care about the environment, who care about the welfare of the Earth, who care about the climate and the quality of life for people,\u201d says Carole Beckham, who hired Happy Goat to graze a portion of her 23-acre residential property in the Sierra Nevada. \u201cWith all the big fires we\u2019ve had over the last several years, it\u2019s really impacted the quality of life for a lot of people. It seems like Mariposa County has been in PTSD every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>

A goat nips on a branch on a hillside property outside of Mariposa. The goats are part of Happy Goat of Mariposa, California which provides the vegetation-clearing creatures to landowners to reduce wildfire risk. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Founded in 2020, Happy Goat farm sits on a 2,000-acre property in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park. The organization\u2019s Goats for Good program leases out its grazing herd to nearby landowners in the Sierra Nevada at a reduced price, and hopes to make the service free of charge for some residents via a lottery. The farm also teaches local students about agriculture and conservation\u2014and donates much of the fruits and vegetables it grows to people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy twisted road that I went down that ended up here in this magical place,\u201d says John Cahalin, one of three Happy Goat co-founders (and the one who named Ricky Bobby).<\/p>\n

Ricky Bobby is doing what he does best, gobbling up weeds, shrubs, and leaves from low-hanging branches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The San Diego transplant came to Mariposa several years ago in search of land for an off-road vehicle rally school, but his vision for the property changed after he met Jesse Fouch, a sixth-generation farmer, rancher, and owner of\u00a0Fouch Farms<\/a>. As Cahalin learned more about his new home, he decided farming was a better fit\u2014something intrinsic to Mariposa and good for tourists, too. Fouch joined him as one of three co-founders of Happy Goat.<\/p>\n

Cahalin wanted goats to be a big part of the farm. \u201cGoats are mischievous, they\u2019re affectionate, and they\u2019re just the most beautiful animals to me,\u201d Cahalin says. \u201cThey make me laugh every time I see my favorite ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"A<\/a>

Happy Goat co-founder John Cahalin holds a baby goat on the nonprofit\u2019s farm in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Mariposa. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Lacey Sharp, Happy Goat\u2019s daily operations manager, among other things, launched the organization\u2019s Goats for Good grazing program over a year and a half ago, and since then, the goats have cleared more than 40 properties in the Mariposa area. That amounts to approximately 200 acres in addition to the 220 acres the goats take on each year back at the farm.<\/p>\n

Sharp runs a holistic program that puts the health of all involved\u2014the animals, the landscape, and the humans seeking fewer wildfire risks\u2014at the center of every decision. The goats spend a limited amount of time in each section of a property, managed by a moveable fence and the watchful eyes of a couple of shepherds and dogs. Sharp is careful not to let the goats overgraze, which can compact soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very in tune with the climate around us and the land we\u2019re working on,\u201d she says. Sharp is also a veterinary technician, and runs a small\u00a0cattle business<\/a>\u00a0influenced by the Texas ranch where she grew up.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"a<\/a>

Happy Goat grazing director Lacey Sharp pets Ricky Bobby, one of the many goats that Happy Goat uses for Sierra foothill wildfire mitigation. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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The nonprofit has around 450 goats\u2014primarily the cashmere type<\/a>\u2014with plans to grow the herd to nearly 3,000. About 100 billy goats currently handle the grazing contracts, while the nannies grow the herd back at the farm. Their kids enjoy a happy youth that includes scrambling all over a massive jungle gym called the \u201cGoatnasium<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goats are part of a\u00a0growing trend<\/a>\u00a0of using livestock to mitigate wildfire risks across the West. That need is acute in\u00a0California\u2019s Sierra region<\/a>, where catastrophic fire presents an\u00a0unprecedented challenge<\/a>. More than 880,000 people live in this mountainous stretch of the state, according to the\u00a0California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mariposa County, where\u00a016 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the population lives below the poverty line, is still recovering from the particularly devastating\u00a0Oak Fire<\/a>, an arson-caused blaze that leveled 127 homes and 66 outbuildings in 2022. In July, a new threat, the 908-acre\u00a0French Fire<\/a>\u2014caused by a\u00a0lawn mower<\/a> that ignited dry grass\u2014burned dangerously close to Mariposa\u2019s historic main street and destroyed or damaged 18 structures.<\/p>\n

The use of goats for targeted grazing is becoming more popular statewide as it is consistent with increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe use of goats for targeted grazing is becoming more popular statewide as it is consistent with increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities,\u201d says Kara Garrett, coordinator of\u00a0Cal Fire<\/a>\u2019s Community Risk Reduction Program. \u201cMany have found grazing to be an effective tool. Not only do [the goats] help clear annual vegetation, but they also browse up trees and reduce fuel loads, helping property owners with their fuel reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cal Fire doesn\u2019t hold contracts specifically for grazing, Garrett says, but 18 of the\u00a0Wildfire Prevention Grants<\/a>\u00a0it awarded for 2022-2023 went to projects that included grazing. \u201cLawn mowers, weed eaters, chainsaws, tractors, and trimmers can all spark a wildland fire if used during the wrong time of year,\u201d Garrett says. \u201cAnd with work still left to be done across California, the grazing goats are a safe alternative to help maintain vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"several<\/a>

Happy Goat co-founder John Cahalin, in lime green, tosses out feed to a mob of goats as they climb over him and some fellow Happy Goat supporters during a break in the daily work effort. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Nearly a third of all acres treated in fuel-reduction projects by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in California utilize grazing, which includes goats, says Sarah Denos, a spokesperson for the BLM in California. Acres grazed for fire mitigation through the agency more than doubled between 2018 and 2022, Denos says. BLM data shows a spike from about 5,400 acres in the state to 18,000 acres during that period.<\/p>\n

Goats can be used in lieu of herbicides to target invasive plants in a way that helps restore balance to the ecosystem, including by adding nutrients back to the soil through their waste, Denos says. Additionally, goats can navigate steep, rugged terrain where machines aren\u2019t practical, she adds.<\/p>\n

There are drawbacks, of course. A herd of goats, if not properly monitored, can mow through a lot of land, eating up everything.<\/p>\n

But if they\u2019re well guided, goats can also be an appropriate tool in locations requiring a \u201clighter touch,\u201d such as sensitive cultural sites, says Mark Thibideau, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region. Beyond general grazing permits, which the Forest Service has issued since its inception, Thibideau says that last year his region used livestock to graze 4,544 acres specifically to mitigate wildfire.<\/p>\n

In rural Mariposa County, where many large, historic ranches have been replaced by smaller residential parcels that can easily get overgrown, Happy Goat provides help. Goats\u2019 love of leaves means they create extra clearance between the ground and low-hanging branches, which helps prevent fire from jumping into the tree canopy. Happy Goat\u2019s humans also assist by doing some pruning to ensure that clearance extends to six vertical feet.<\/p>\n

Other goat operations in California include those led by the\u00a0Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council<\/a>,\u00a0City Grazing in San Francisco<\/a>, and numerous Sonoma County\u00a0grazing cooperatives<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re more sustainable\u2014they have less impact to the environment,\u201d one Southern California Edison worker\u00a0told The Fresno Bee<\/em><\/a>\u00a0about using goats from\u00a0Chasin Goat Grazing<\/a>\u00a0for vegetation management beneath power lines in the Sierra. \u201cAnd from a sociological perspective, people can get behind goats.\u201d A free, online search tool and map called\u00a0match.graze<\/a>, launched by the University of California Cooperative Extension and previously\u00a0reported on by Civil Eats<\/a>, displays many more California herds for hire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn California every year, everyone gets nervous for wildfire season, and rightfully so,\u201d says entrepreneur Willie Morris, the third Happy Goat co-founder. \u201cBut the fact that we can take goats\u2014which to me are like such silly, funny creatures\u2014and they can be the frontline of fire prevention, and they can get to places we could never really do with machinery, to me, it\u2019s just a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"a<\/a>

Jessica Segale talks about her work as Happy Goat\u2019s greenhouse manager and produce grown on their regenerative farm in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Mariposa, California. Segale is also director of Happy Goat\u2019s farm-to-school program. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Grazing is just one of the programs that makes Happy Goat a boon to its community.<\/p>\n

Happy Goat\u2019s farm-to-school program connected with around 1,400 students last year from several local schools, supported by federal and state grants, for hands-on learning experiences in agriculture and conservation. That outreach continues, and the farm recently became a new contracted provider of produce for Mariposa County Unified School District. Happy Goat also helps recycle food waste from local school cafeterias, using it to create compost for small school gardens and its farm.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Happy Goat is working toward regenerative farm certification from the\u00a0Savory Institute<\/a>, a nonprofit focused on restoring grasslands through holistic management. \u201cWe\u2019re building topsoil, we\u2019re sequestering carbon, we\u2019re improving the forage, the trees, the grasses,\u201d says Fouch, who designed the farm and is also an associate educator with the Savory Institute. \u201cWe monitor insect populations, the birds, the bees\u2014everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goats can be used in lieu of herbicides to target invasive plants in a way that helps restore balance to the ecosystem, including by adding nutrients back to the soil through their waste.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The farm grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables by intercropping<\/a> them, choosing varieties that are \u201chappy around each other,\u201d says Jessica Segale, director of its farm-to-school program. This classic organic farming technique promotes biodiversity and can also reduce pests. Also, plants are sprayed with natural compost extracts instead of harmful chemicals.<\/p>\n

Happy Goat donates much of its produce to food banks. It gave away 4,400 pounds of produce last year\u2014more than a third of all it grew\u2014and plans to double that number. Beyond goats, other animals on its farm include chickens for eggs, sheep, pigs, ducks, guineafowl, and a goose. None are used for meat.<\/p>\n

The organization also has a goat therapy program<\/a> that provides stress relief for humans\u2014including some college students<\/a> who got to enjoy the animals at the University of California, Merced, campus during finals week.<\/p>\n

Funding for Happy Goat\u2019s philanthropic efforts comes from related enterprises, like its for-profit diner,\u00a0Happy Goat Farm to Table<\/a>, which opened last fall in the town of Mariposa just down the road. Happy Goat was also awarded a rural development grant from the United States Department of Agriculture last year to research the feasibility of using the goats\u2019 hair for cashmere production, which is limited in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"a<\/a>

Happy Goat Farm to Table diner in downtown Mariposa offers meals with ingredients from the nearby Happy Goat farm. The for-profit diner opened in the fall of 2023 and its proceeds support the work of nonprofit Happy Goat. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Happy Goat intends to keep growing, all with the help of Ricky Bobby and the rest of the goats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have limitless land to range on.\u201d Sharp says. \u201cThey never run out of feed. They are not put into a holding pen where they spend 24\/7 on a dry lot. We literally use them for what they were created for, and that\u2019s what makes them so happy\u2014and it\u2019s what makes us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Along with his fellow herd members, all employed by the nonprofit\u00a0Happy Goat to reduce wildfire risks, Ricky Bobby is doing what he does best, gobbling up weeds, shrubs, and leaves from low-hanging branches. No plant appears to be too much of a challenge, including poison oak and spiky live-oak leaves. He and 100 caprine teammates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1362,"featured_media":58045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4479,521,12433],"tags":[],"coauthors":[43540],"class_list":["post-58056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farming","category-local-food","category-regenerative-agriculture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoats Graze an Acre a Day to Keep California's Wildfires Away | Civil Eats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Mariposa County, Happy Goat farm builds community by sending out its herd, farm-to-school programs, a restaurant, and more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2024\/10\/02\/good-goats-make-good-neighbors\/\" \/>\n<meta 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