In kind of an offbeat story this weekend, Google announced on Friday that the company has contracted California Grazing, a goat herding company, in an effort to make their pastures … and their carbon emissions, a bit greener. Instead of using a lawnmower crew to take care of the brush and weeds growing outside of their Mountain View based headquarters, Google is going au-natural and responsible with a new herd of 200 goats and one border collie.
The goats will spend about a week at Google, work their way through the weeds, and then fertilize the Googleplex property with fresh goat droppings, for about the same cost that it takes to contract a landscaping and bush hogging crew, their gasoline, and carbon emissions.
Google’s Dan Hoffman, Director Real Estate and Workplace Services, adds on the Google Blog “It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.”
On a side note, Google was not the first search engine to hire Goats, as Yahoo started the practice back in 2007.
This is awesome on many levels. Add this to the list of reasons I love Google.
I wonder if that company contracts out to suburban neighborhoods? Can you imagine watching the goats herded from yard to yard? And think of all the carbon karma points that neighborhood would win.
I don’t care who you are, this is pretty funny. ;-)
Goat Power! We use it at Goats On The Roof too!
This is really amazing… :)
The amazing thing is all those goats have computer science or engineering advanced degrees from top 10 schools. A whole lot of goats were rejected.
Whoa! That is awesome! Good stuff…
What about the Goat Shit?
Serious question: what about the methane gas emitted by less significant bowel movements than “goat droppings”…? I just read ‘Hot Flat and Crowded’ by Tom Friedman a couple of weeks ago & he notes that gas from cow farts is a serious contributor to global warming pollution…
Why not just buy an electric or hybrid lawn mower?
Google cost cutting at the time of Recession. Any way good idea.
What does Google need all that fresh grass for anyway? I’m sure they have the most beautiful fields in all of Mountain View. Of course, it would be nice to feed a goat a carrot during your lunch break.
I think that must be a good idea to sell Google Milk.
What do you think about this? :)
Yum, goat milk. I applaud Google for this, they could have used lawnmowers and wasted gas..
I think that the chef should have goat kebabs and milk on the menu this week :)
How does a goat chewing on Google grass look?
Check out this visual:
http://www.semwisdom.com/blog/google-hiring-goats
Great idea to be implemented in this recession period
After their shift they will end up in the Goat Curry
Wow, That is awesome =D
Google’s the best ! ^^
Goat grazing is a cost effective, ecologically sound way to clear land and promote growth of native grasses and beneficial plants, particularly for large acreages and difficult terrain. It has been proven to efficiently handle areas that are inaccessible or difficult to manage with mowers, areas where burns are inadvisable, and sensitive areas where the application of herbicides is not appropriate.
great news
Long Live google.
apparently I am the only one here who sees this as stupid. Not saving any money like tag44 thinks. How about something a little more advanced.
What about plants that don’t need mowing???
What about growing vegs on that land???
How about just letting it grow???
And, if you let it grow, you could feed the dry grass to other animal where they live, a barn.
This was funny article made me laugh.
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