Google shepherds in a new era in landscaping at its California headquarters

Last month in "April Fools' . . . Not: Weed-Whacking Goats Are for Real," we wrote about a decision by the Town of Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, to buy five Nigerian Dwarf goats to help rid the Long Island town's 50-acre Norman J. Levy Park & Preserve preserve of mugwort, bulrushes, and other unwanted growth.

Using grazing goats for landscaping work will now likely have a much higher profile, as search-engine giant Google is using a hired herd of 200 goats to clear weeds and brush from its Mountain View, California, headquarters. Posting on the company's official blog, Dan Hoffman, director of real estate and workplace services, wrote, "This spring we decided to take a low-carbon approach: Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, we've rented some goats from California Grazing to do the job for us." (The photo shows some California Grazing goats.) The cost is about the same as using power equipment, according to Hoffman. Read more about Google's green efforts at its facilities.

If you're not yet ready to abandon your outdoor power equipment and tend to a herd of goats, check out our buyer's guides to mowers/tractors and string trimmers. And read our May 2009 report on mowers and tractors (report and ratings available to subscribers).—Steven H. Saltzman | e-mail | Twitter

Comments

[Boom Trucks]

When it comes to landscaping and labor intensive work I always bring out the bad boy toys. After destroying two back ends in my truck I finally decided to purchase some heavy duty equipment to help me on my way. I have found my dump truck and bucket truck to be very helpful with trimming tall trees and removing the debris from my yard.

[google business]

It is a great filling of working with Google and milestones are always a good time for introspection. Interesting, fun, surprising, insightful, inspiring, impactful, and more such words.

Google is not quite as big as many companies out there, but in its space it has a huge user base for most of its applications (search and beyond). Anything you analytics menu-googlework on will probably touch hundreds of thousands of people.

Thanks

google business

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