No Kidding: Google Hires Goats to Mow Lawn

When news is slow, you have to hunt out stories that someone, somewhere might actually find interesting. This story found us. Google is hiring goats.

Given all the employee perks at Google, tons of people endeavor to work for the Mountain View company. In a move that could goad aspiring Googlers, the search company today announced that it’s hiring goats.

“At our Mountain View headquarters, we have some fields that we need to mow occasionally to clear weeds and brush to reduce fire hazard. 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 company employs a herder which brings about 200 goats to the Google campus. The goats spend roughly a week at Google, eating the grass and “fertilizing” at the same time. The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. All in all, the cost works out about the same as mowing and as Dan Hoffman, Director Real Estate and Workplace Services points out, goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.

Alright, this is a great idea but a couple of things are worth mentioning here. First of all, how much poop can 200 goats on an all-you-can-eat diet produce inside a week? This could just be a forward thinking on our part, but Google may be gearing up to enter the fertilizer market. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Also, whatever about goats being cute, has anyone spared a thought for the lad who used to cut the grass at Google? We hope he didn’t have a wife and kid to feed. At least with him at home, they won’t need the nanny anymore. I wonder if I can ram another pun in somewhere. Wouldn't that get your goat?

Check out the Google blog post here. Post your goat puns below.