These voracious herbivores are in high demand to devour weeds and shrubs that have proliferated across California after a drought-busting winter of heavy rain and snow.
Friday, June 02, 2023
California overtime law threatens use of grazing goats to prevent wildfires
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of goats munch on long blades of yellow grass on a hillside next to a sprawling townhouse complex. They were hired to clear vegetation that could fuel wildfires as temperatures rise this summer.
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I agree that regulating the amount of overtime that goats put in while grazing needs to be regulated, and I am proud that california is taking care of that.
ReplyDeleteThe next step of course for California is to take sure that their regulators are putting in a minimum amount of time actually THINKING, but realizing that requiring government types to be able to THINK is left-ist so should never be mentioned.
I hate to say it, but I agree with California on this. I hate these foreign workers coming into the US and stealing jobs from Americans with the heat of a thousand suns. End all of these programs, and either pay Americans realistic wages or close down.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree with you as far as immigration goes, I have to say that in all my years I have yet to see a single White shepherd, whether they were herding goats or sheep. You will not find a White kid to take that job, so it's technically not stealing jobs.
DeleteMy husband and and I are starting a small hobby farm with chickens, turkeys, and Nubian dairy goats. The milk is fantastic, and I am learning to make chevre and farmer's cheese. We milk 2 times a day, give hay, water. They are in an electric fence and we have a great Pyrenees dog who is outside the fence and she barks at everything, buzzards, hawks, the train. I am from Cali(left 5 yrs ago) so I could see a person living in a mobile home on the property being cleared by the goats being paid 3,000 a month plus room and food. 14,000 a month is absolutely ridiculous but we are talking about Cali, the land of fruits, nuts, and flakes.
DeleteThen there's the fact that Peruvians are natural born sheepmen, that they love their work and that their current $4000 a month is probably five time as much as they can make at home.
DeleteH-2A visa requirements also mean they are strictly regulated as to how long they stay in the U.S. and when they must return home. They come here knowing that it's for work only and that they will be returning home to their families.
Same thing with all the Basque shepherds on the eastern side of the Sierras. They have a contract for so many years (I think its 5 years but don't quote me on that), then they return home.
DeleteI spent two summers living out of a motel room in Gardnerville, NV. Lots of Basque folks around there. Good people.
DeleteThere was a place run by Basques that served Basque dinners Basque style. Everybody sits at a big table and passes the pots around. Great food served like you're part of the family. Fun.
There was a Basque 'restaurant' like that in Minden, Nevada. I ate there a couple times, no menu, you ate what they were serving that night.
Delete@wirecutter June 2, 2023 at 11:21 AM
Delete"You will not find a White kid to take that job, so it's technically not stealing jobs."
In California? You won't find an American? Willing to watch over goats? From a free "private" trailer? For fourteen-thousand United States (soon to be trading on par with Zimbabwe) dollars? A month? I hope you've got a machete to match that kind of racism.
I? Stand? by? what? I? said?
DeleteI have YET (key word in my original remark) to see a White kid that's willing to stand out in 105 degree temps with no shade to herd goats. And I've seen the trailers that shepherds live in over on the east slope of the Sierras - they're not some nice mobile home with AC and a kitchen, they're junked out trailers with the siding falling off and tilted off to one side because the tires rotted off of them.
Fuck you and your accusations of racism.
I have YET (key word in my original remark) to see a White kid that's willing to stand out in 105 degree temps with no shade
DeleteI guess you forgot about all those “White kids” that work on family farms.
And no, no American is going to work for minimum wage if they have skills.
These aliens that get these jobs are also subsidized in many other ways by our government.
Before you ask how, tell me if you think they’ve ever paid a hospital bill? Or taxes?
When the grocery store ask you for money “to feed the hungry”.
Who do you think gets the money?
When one drops a baby on our shores, who gets the SS check we automatically start sending?
The “White” kid is expected to live off minimum wages, and PAY those bills, plus taxes, and pay the foreigners share as well.
Anon-
DeleteFactoid One- When and if monthly wages become over $14,000 a month, shepherds will cease to exist. That's the whole point of the article.
Factoid Two- A statement (White American kids not being interested in herding) isn't racist when it's rooted in fact. Much like the statement "Nearly all gun related homicides in Chicago are cases of Black on Black crime" isn't racist, it's a fact.
Question for Anon- Do you throw out the Race Card often? If so, I suggest you post comments over at HuffPo, not here.
Anon@3:47 - who's talking about family farms? Or any of the other shit you brought up? I have news for you though, most family farms' labor is Mexican nowadays. Don't believe me? Drive past one some day. Even around here in Tennessee, it's Mexicans doing the labor.
DeleteElmo, thank you.
DeleteWirecutter, there was a Basque place in Stockton back in the mid to late 80's. It was pretty good food; long tables as I recall. My boss at KWG turned me on to it.
DeleteWow, I did not know that. Too bad.
DeleteIt's California, let it burn.....
ReplyDeleteThis is another law brought to you by Marxist Lorena Gonzalez. She's the person who doesn't want contracted employers to exist (think no 1099 forms). She wants everyone in California to be an employee of a company in the hopes they all eventually unionize. She's targeted everyone from independent truck owner-operators to ride share drivers to freelance writers. She was a state senator until she quit to become head of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
ReplyDeleteShe and her husband are real pieces of work. Her old man is a UC adjunct professor who was also a San Diego county supervisor. He was running for state senate until it was learned he had been accused of sexual assault and it must have been true because he immediately dropped out of the race. He then sought treatment for PTSD and alcoholism.
If there were ever poster children for the people that have ruined California, it's Lorena Gonzalez and her husband Nathan Fletcher.
Yep, yep, and yep. You beat me to it.
DeleteThe county I live in tried to use goats to keep the area vegitation down around the recycling and trash facility. That lasted about 6 months until they discovered that goat's eating leads them to shitting
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought.....
DeleteWhere's that shit-eating dog when you need him?
DeleteEd
My house.
DeleteYou know what was a popular fuel for fires in Afghanistan? Dried goat poop. Burned hot, and long. They haven't gotten rid of the problem, just added extra steps.
ReplyDeleteEarly on, many of the cattle drives in the treeless plains had a small trailer towed behind the chuck wagon that was used to haul Buffalo chips that had been collected to cook with. No trees, no firewood. Lots of Buffalo, lots of Buffalo chips.
DeleteThey use the goats and some sheep around here. It's pretty cool to watch. Last year a ewe gave birth on the job. That said, whenever something works too well, hand it over to the pinheads under the capitol dome to fuck it up.
ReplyDeletehave they factored in the effect of goat farts on the environment?
ReplyDeleteron
after the movie brokeback mountain, where 2 young men frolic among the sheep,... would the california twist on this be drag queens and goats in the wilderness?
Deleteron
Anon @ 3:15:
ReplyDeletePiss off, troll. Maybe you bask in the liberal 'reality', or you're just another dumb fuck, incapable of understanding true reality, you know, the reality that comes from YEARS of experience. Bah, probably a fucking fedboi. Piss off, nonetheless, ignorant dickweed.
No need to get upset, Greg. I'm fairly certain that Anon @ 3:15 is the same guy that started that thread, Plague Monk. Then when he was called out on his original comment with indisputable facts he suddenly morphs into Anonymous so as to distance himself from the fact he's completely full of it. Funny how that works.
DeleteHe said something equally as foolish in a comment over at The Captains Journal and was immediately called out on his nonsense by several other commenters. One of them referred to him as a 'professional fecal agitator', which is a beautifully polite way of describing him for exactly what he is.
What a sad existence people like that lead. Their main joy in life is to get other people upset as a means to draw attention to themselves. Pretty pathetic.