The grazing goats have completed their work above the Corporation Yard and crossed Moraga Avenue into Blair Park early Thursday morning. They’ll be on the hillside above the park for a week or so, the city says, clearing out low-lying vegetation and eating up the dry grass. The goats eat everything — starting with the plums — and will move on to less appetizing vegetation in short order. They eat for roughly eight hours a day — four hours in the morning, then they rest, then another four hours in the afternoon.
Visitors to Blair Park are able to get quite close to the goats grazing area but be careful not to touch the electric fence — it will shock you or your dog.
Photos courtesy of the City of Piedmont
Following the leader 
Looking for plums 
At work
As fun as the goats are to watch, it’s important to remember that we bring them here for fire safety and that residents need to do their part as well to prepare their property for fire season — trimming trees and shrubs away from structures, removing dead or dying vegetation on their property, and clearing any flammable materials in their yard. These individual actions help reduce risk to our whole community. We’ve had some inquiries from residents with hard-to-access hillside properties about whether they are allowed to bring in goats like the City does and the answer is yes. The city can’t provide referrals to a specific provider, but we have no laws preventing use of grazing goats on private property.
Echa Schneider, City of Piedmont