June 9, 2021
CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith discusses fighting fires with goats as severe droughts and wildfires rise in the Western U.S. Brewer speaks with ranch owners who work with the animals to talk about how the goats consume vegetation and how that helps prevent fires.
They even eat poison ivy which makes them great at clearing brush. It may not look it, but these hungry goats don’t you love that noise of the munching – they are dedicated to their craft.
The goats get into three cycles of four hours eating and you’ll often hear us yell out the window “Lie down! Go to sleep! Stop eating!”
They’re eating to stop wildfires here at the 1,800-acre TomKat Cattle Ranch in Pescadero, California. It was a choice of sending out hiand crews versus hiring goats. I think we’d vote for the goats any day.
It can fuel wildfires and the hoofed fire bridade on site can consume three-tons of vegetation a day. Banjo – stay there! According to self-proclaimed Goat Gypsy, Loni, “They like pokey things and poisonous things.”
Malmberg charges as much as $5,000 a day to deploy her army of herbivores.
How much it costs depend on types of terrain, sources of water and nearby predators. She says her 1,500 goats work 365 days a year.
Everything I own has four legs or four wheels and I go to where the work is.
Malmbberg has been at it for almost three decades, raising 26 generations of goats. THeir grazing has helped to reclaim oilfields and manage erosion, but in the last few years, the herd has shifted to focus solely on fire mitigation.
I wish there was a thousand of me working with 1,500 goats doing professional work. The land really needs it.
Despite the grueling schedule, Malmberg says the job has its perks.
The best part of my job is being a professional gypsy because I eet the coolest people everywhere I go everywhere I am, I love the land.
Malmberg has trained hundreds of people to become professional goat herders.
She founded a non-profit to host classes and Boot Camp to train the next generation of herders. She’s hoping more will take on the trade because climate change continues to make for more extreme conditions.