Grazing goats prevent California wildfires. New salary rules may jeopardize the industry

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Goats have become a sustainable way to reduce wildfire fuel in California. But new labor requirements for herders might threaten the economic stability.

Increasingly in recent years, Californians have put goats’ voracious and almost indiscriminate diets to work, minimizing fuel for wildfires across the state — a method that has been heralded as sustainable, economical and effective at reducing underbrush that can become dangerous in the hot summer months.

But goat ranchers worry a recent change in state labor requirements for herders could jeopardize the future of the industry — which some have said is particularly important this year, after an extremelyGoat herders were recently reclassified by California labor regulators, differentiating them from sheep herders — a new distinction that means goat herders will no longer be eligible for a monthly herders’ compensation, set at a minimum of $2,755 plus required overtime.

“We can’t afford that; cities can’t afford that,” said Tim Arrowsmith, the owner and manager of Western Grazers in Red Bluff, who employs a few dozen herders for his several thousand goats. He said that monthly salary is almost four times what he currently pays his goat herders, which he already considers a fair wage, noting that they are also provided with housing, groceries, cellphones and clothes.

Western Grazers’ working goats in Redding, Calif., eat brush and dry grass, which is a wildfire preventive measure. Arrowsmith said if this switch goes into effect next year, he will not be able to sustain his goat-grazing business — and many areas in need of his easy and ecofriendly fire abatement will be at a loss.

 

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