Bleating back the weeds

Across the dry grasslands of California's valleys and foothills, goats are gaining recognition as an effective weapon to cut the risk of rampaging wildfires and to check the spread of nonnative weeds such as star thistle. Goats don't have the drawbacks of chemical sprays, and they have a sweet tooth for weeds and other noxious plants that other grazing animals shun, say boosters of the practice. Between bouts of jumping into the air and butting heads, the young goats swarm through the weeds, grazing on dry grass, chewing the bark of manzanita trees and reaching high on two legs to munch on the leaves of taller trees. The 49 adult goats and 30 youngsters belong to Dave Cheney, who has operated Pine Ridge Goats since 2001. Cheney trucks the animals into an area to be cleared, sets up a temporary electric fence, arms it with a truck battery and puts the goats to work on the weeds. His goats are Kikos, a hardy breed developed in New Zealand. Beyond what they eat on their own, they get a dessert of farm-grown hay at the end of the day, when he uses it to entice the goats into their pens.