The Cupertino Courier

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'Chew Crew' gets busy mowing down grasses

By Erin Hussey

They may look soft, cuddly and cute enough to take home, but if you see goats grazing on a hillside in Sunnyvale, what you're really looking at are city workers. More precisely, they're fire suppression specialists.

The city began using goats in 2001 to "mow" the 93 acres of grassy hillsides surrounding the SMaRT Station that, if left to grow, could pose a fire hazard.

Because of goats' effective trimming skills, pollution and noise-free mechanics, not to mention unmatchable work ethic, they've returned every year since.

The city stopped using riding mowers for the job because they pollute the air and, while cutting the grass during the dry season, can start small fires. They also did damage to the methane collection system that is used to power the water pollution control plant, says Adam Levermore-Rich, Sunnyvale deputy communications officer.

"The goats have it over the lawn mowers on all accounts," he says.

This year close to 600 goats, mixed with a handful of sheep from the Orinda-based company Goats R Us, have been hired to graze the land.

"It's what my husband wanted to do," says Terri Oyarzùn, who owns Goats R Us with her husband Egon. Egon first worked with goats in Chile, where he was born and raised. "It's really what his passion is."

The Oyarzùns established Goats R Us in 1995. Today they manage more than 65,000 goats of a variety of breeds including angora, alpine, Spanish, Boer, pygmy, La Mancha and Nubian.

"We breed for need," says Oyarzùn. "We are a hands-on farm company, and we enjoy going out and personally supervising what is going on."

When Goats R Us is hired for a job such as the Sunnyvale sMaRt Station, they load up the correct-size herd, and one border collie and hitch up the shepherd's trailer.

Shepherd Bautista Cortez and sheepdog Panda were assigned to the Sunnyvale site this year.

"This is the first time I have been here," says Cortez about Sunnyvale, "but we will probably be back in April."

Cortez, who was named after his Spanish grandfather, is from southern Chile. He first came to the United States in 1990 and worked at a farm in Utah. While he is working in America, his family, including his grandmother, help run his farm in Chile.

While working on a site for Goats R Us, he lives in a small trailer that has a small kitchen and bedroom, so he can watch over the herd at all times.

"I am here to watch the goats," he says. "All day and all night. I also watch the electricity and make sure children are not touching the fence."

The goats are contained using a low-watt electrified fence. As the goats chew their way through a fenced area, Cortez, with the help of Panda, herds them into a new patch of grass until they have completed the job.

"She's bilingual," says Cortez with a grin, referring to the Spanish he uses to command Panda. "I usually go in the front and she goes in the back."

Another benefit of using goats is their ability to eat almost any vegetation, including otherwise undesirable weeds such as yellow star thistle, blackberry and poison oak. But, even goats need a break from eating.

"If the moon is out, they will eat a little," says Cortez. "If not, they sleep."

According to Cortez, the goats are allowed to mate on the job, and a few are pregnant.

"The ones that are back at the ranch have needs, or they are too young or too old to work," says Oyarzùn.

When Goats R Us goats are retired, they are used for agricultural education presentations at local schools and other organizations.

"Goats in particular fill a niche," says Oyarzùn. "It just seemed like there was a need and that it would be a positive experience for all those involved."