In its quest to become a greener company, Google Inc. is putting its money where its hooves are. Or something like that.
The company has hired several hundred goats to effectively mow the lawns of its Mountain View, Calif. campus. The idea is to cut down on the gas consumption and emissions caused by more traditional types of lawn mowing, you know, the kind that uses machines and blades.
The goats are being rented from a company called California Grazing. A herder brings in the goats for a week to gnaw at the grass and weeds while “fertilizing.” Jen the border collie keeps them in line.
“It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers,” Google said in its blog.
No word on whether the carbon footprint of trucking the goats to the corporate HQ negates the green effect of replacing mowers with goats.
Google’s not alone in its embrace of Goat Power: Yahoo! uses them too. It said on Twitter, "They like our grass too," with a link to a Flickr photo.
