A herd of 450 Boer goats is clearing brush at the Seymour Center in a very goatlike way: by eating it.
by Hilltromper staff
March 10, 2015—In the Year of the Goat, it seems only fitting that important tasks be assigned to small cloven-hoofed, horned herbivores. At least Felix Ang, director of architectural services for UCSC, thought so, and when he suggested to his colleagues that goats be employed to clear stubborn brush on the bluffs near the Seymour Marine Center in preparation for new construction there, they agreed.
“Instead of having giant bulldozers coming in doing construction with all that gas-guzzling diesel equipment, we thought, 'OK, what if we had something quiet and low-impact and pleasing to the eye to take care of it in two to three weeks?'” Ang told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
"Pleasing to the eye" has been an understatement. The 450 Boer goats deployed by Coalinga-based Living Systems Land Management have drawn some attention since their arrival a week and a half ago.
And tomorrow's Free Community Day at Seymour Center is the perfect opportunity to go snap some of your own pics. The Center will be open from 10am to 5pm on Wednesday offering free admission to one and all. The current Featured Exhibit, by Dr. Gary Griggs, is on Coastal Erosion and displays then-and-now images of our ephemeral coastline.
If you can't make it tomorrow, consider going on the weekend. Living Systems owner Mike Canaday told Hilltromper today he thought the goats—which he said are being guarded by a half-Anatolian shepherd, half-Great Pyrenees herd dog—would be there another 8 to 10 days finishing up the job.
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