Eco friendly weed removal
Jun 25, 2023 21:13:57 #
gastech1949
Loc: Imperial Beach, CA.
Our local power company, SDG&E, contracts for weed removal with local owner of goats. These pictures were taken today in south Chula Vista, San Diego County. There were roughly 200+ goats in a chain-link fenced area, about 100' x 400', under the high voltage towers. (SDG&E right of way). Lots of people stopping to look/pet them. The last photo shows the "caretakers" up the hill about 1000' away.
Jun 25, 2023 22:32:57 #
gastech1949 wrote:
Our local power company, SDG&E, contracts for weed removal with local owner of goats. These pictures were taken today in south Chula Vista, San Diego County. There were roughly 200+ goats in a chain-link fenced area, about 100' x 400', under the high voltage towers. (SDG&E right of way). Lots of people stopping to look/pet them. The last photo shows the "caretakers" up the hill about 1000' away.
That is a large work crew. Area looks stripped?
Years ago I stayed at a private house in Mountain View, AR. Owner had a tract of land parallel to Main Street that he wanted to develop, so he rough fenced it and bought about 25 goats. The goats were doing a good job when I was there; I got a few pics (long lost on film). Then a few weeks later the herd opted for a change of venue overnight. After Mr Jones got all his goats back; he decided that the project was not worth the public lashback, and sold them all.
They are interesting animals, when on the other side of the fence. They were not so friendly up close.
Boris
Jun 25, 2023 22:55:49 #
gastech1949
Loc: Imperial Beach, CA.
Having been there yesterday, no camera, and today with the camera there was less vegetation today but still a lot to still "knock down". I expect them to be there 3-5 more days. After that they will likely move across the road shown in several of the pictures to the hillside just below where their keepers are shown in the last picture.
Jun 25, 2023 22:57:25 #
Ecofriendly solution. Fifty years or so ago someone discovered that geese won't eat cotton plants. Some enterprising individuals rented out goose flocks to farmers in the Central Valley of California. An extra advantage of using geese was thelarge amounts of high nitrogen fertilizer deposited by the fowl.
Jun 26, 2023 07:34:46 #
Jun 26, 2023 18:05:20 #
therwol
Loc: USA
Julian wrote:
Echo friendly? It looks like a methane field!
This is serious business in California. Grass grows in the winter when it rains, and then it dies when the rain stops and becomes a serious fire hazard. The scene shown is common in Northern California where I live. The alternative is to use gas powered equipment to cut down this grass. Utilities (notice the power line towers) especially have large tracts to clear, but there are other large properties that utilize goats (or sheep) to clear the dead grass. Sheep are picky and prefer fresh grass before it dies, but goats will eat anything. The methane produced by these animals is balanced against the carbon dioxide produced by gas powered equipment, which typically has no pollution controls.
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