Grazing goats are in high demand to devour wild grass and shrubs that are proliferating across California after a drought-busting winter of heavy rain and snow. When the summer heat arrives, that vegetation will dry out and provide fresh tinder for wildfires. Public and private landowners are turning to goats as an environmentally friendly way to clear vegetation instead of using machines or chemical herbicides. But goatherding companies say California’s farmworker overtime law is making it more expensive to provide grazing services and threaten to put them out of business.
