Luxe Life

Google Gets Goats

By Kimberly Castro

Posted: May 4, 2009

Google has hired goats. Yeah, you heard right. The goats are replacing the gas-powered lawn mowers at the search giant's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. The goats will not only help trim the land's excessive grass, weeds, and brush in an eco-friendly way, it'll increase the fertility of Google's land with fresh goat droppings.

On its official blog, Google talks about its latest approach to saving energy:

"At our Mountain View headquarters, we have some fields that we need to mow occasionally to clear weeds and brush to reduce fire hazard. This spring we decided to take a low-carbon approach: Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, we've rented some goats from California Grazing to do the job for us (we're not "kidding"). A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time. The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.

California Grazing provides a grazing management system that not only cuts back on the weeds, but also helps native grasses to survive. The company calls their 800 goats "self propelled weed eaters."

3G Employment?

I was wondering if there are any openings in Google for an Assistant Goat Guy. I think it might be cool to be the Google Goat Guy.

Dr Lee Zee of NJ @ Sep 22, 2009 22:38:05 PM

I want to believe, I want to believe

You "think" it's because they eat grain??

How about some facts? The fact is it doesn't matter what you do everything has an impact on something. Th ekey is to select the point that has a least amount of impact while still being cost effective. What's next, Google is going start using candles on Tuesdays and Thursday?

You must be a city girl.

Larry of CA @ May 05, 2009 10:30:08 AM

Grass-fed livestock produce much less methane

While it's true that our livestock release a lot of methane, I think it's because they are mostly fed grain (which can give them indigestion). The goats probably release minimal amounts of methane. And, goat cheese is yummy.

Phoebe of CA @ May 04, 2009 16:26:59 PM

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Luxe Life

Luxury is no longer the sole province of the elite. Upscale goods and services now target a much broader market. Kimberly Castro, deputy business editor of U.S.News & World Report, takes a look at the luxe life, from fine wines and cars to high-end real estate and wealth management. Though no elitist, Kim does admit a fondness for a bold bottle of Scout's Honor from Venge Vineyards and satiating her wanderlust in Europe.

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