Why Would One Of The Countries Largest Airports Hire 400 Goats?

Goats will eat just about anything...or anything. So when landscaping needs to be done and you can't use a machine, what do you do?  You hire some goats and git r done.

It seems as though the San Francisco International Airport is, or was, in a bind.  The airport has adjacent property that must be maintained every year to protect nearby homes in the event of grass fire.  The problem is they can't use traditional mowers because the endangered San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog call that area home.

So how do you keep the weeds down?  You call the Oyarzun family who own Goats R Us. The airport has been utilizing the appetites of about 400 goats to do the dirty work for 5 years now at a cost of about $15,000 for the two weeks they are needed.

The service even comes with a herder and a dog to keep mayhem in check.

And it's not just airports that utilize the goats.  The California based company has about 4000 goats on the payroll and the 4-legged garbage disposal's can also be seen munching away on the side of California's freeways, state parks, under long-distance electric lines and pretty much anyplace with overgrown vegetation where a mower or machine can't be used. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is also considering goats to help maintain part of their 7000 acre facility.

The best part is that when these goats get too old to work, they are not slaughtered but rather live out the rest of the lives in retirement on the family's ranch/farm.