Around a third of Portugal is overgrown with forests, and every year there are forest fires. The main problem is the uncontrolled sprawl of Eucalyptus trees which has been problematic for decades. They burn like tinder, and flying sparks can spread forest fires for miles. There is still a lot to do to combat forest fires, but goats provide an innovative way to address the problem of bush fires.They clear the undergrowth that fuel wild fires in hard to reach, and often inaccessible inland areas. Goats eat almost anything, if it grows in the wild, a goat will eat it, add to that their agility in climbing rugged landscapes and you have, not the perfect solution for the prevention of spreading wild fires, but they do help to clear scrub land of undergrowth, and create natural cost effective fire barriers.
A typical Portuguese goat herder with his dogs who are trained to herd at a young age, and in this case, even their puppies went along, and I enjoyed watching them.
An enlarged photo of the beautiful dog in the previous photo.
Some of the goats have been shaved.
Some goat herders say that during the extreme heat of summer, the goats get stressed from overheating with their coats on.
The puppies playing, but no doubt learning what their parents do.
Goat herding is a Portuguese tradition.
The Algarve goat, with dark spots on a white coat is indigenous to Portugal. I saw them on my last visit to the Algarve and photographed the scene with the intention of writing about them at a later stage. As the weather has been rainy with grey skies, it has been just too unpleasant to venture outside, or take photos, but as we need the rain, it is a good opportunity to make this post.
32 comments:
Hola Sonjia. Los incendios son un verdadero problema en todos lados, en Asturias también tenemos mucho eucalipto y muchos incendios. En mi zona por suerte está prohibido plantarnos, así que lo que hay son pinos y árboles de hoja caduca como Abedules, Robles, Castaños etc...Las fotos son espectaculares, muy bonitas. Un beso y feliz fin de semana.
I didnt know Portugal suffered fires like this. I like eucalyptus, they are expensive here in garden centres (I was looking at one only this week about 8 ft high in the £50 region!)... thank goodness for goats to keep things under control.
Great these pictures of the goats.
I also love the dogs, here we have a large herd of sheep that keep nature clean from overgrown grass and shrubs.
It is good that they are used to keep nature clean so that fires have less chance.
I know there are always a lot of fires, also in other countries this is a big problem every year, it also has to do with global warming.
Greetings Irma
Hello Sonjia :)
The puppies is so very cute and beautiful. Eucalyptus contains oil, and I can imagine it can burn very intense. It must be very scary!
Goats and sheeps are very useful to counteract fire.
Hugs from Norway!
Hello Sonjia
What a great idea to use the goats to clear the brush. Forest fires are scary and dangerous. The goats are so cute and I love the dogs. The Algarve goat is beautiful, I like their spots. The rain will help with fires, it is needed. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
this is really interesting, about the trees, we have the same problems here but different trees in different parts of the country. the goats are a great way to do it. they are using them in my hometown to clear different places around town, they have to stake them out and then move them because of traffic.
these looks so beautiful to me and of course the dogs are my favorite of all
Forest fires are a huge issue around the world, Sonjia, and while goats may offer some measure of protection by creating less favourable conditions they can do nothing to hold back the tide of a warming earth, with extreme heat waves across the planet. Goats, as you point out will eat just about anything, so the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds are destroyed by them too. Last year in Western Canada, when the temperatures soared to almost fifty degrees day after day, the entire town of Lytton was burned to the ground and all the goats in the world would not have prevented it. Anthropogenic climate modification is at the root of all of this. Hugs from Ontario. David
I did not know that goats were a feature of the Portuguese landscape, Sonjia, and that they played such an important part in fire prevention. I was aware, however, that forest fires are a problem as my brother-in-law used to head archaeological digs in Portugal and has found himself and his team severely threatened by forest fires on at least one occasion!
An interesting and beautifully illustrated piece - thank you.
Best wishes, stay safe - - - Richard
...goats can be fabulous in the fire prevention business! Thanks for sharing these critters.
I think it's wonderful how your country has found a way to control the eucalyptus trees. You don't say if the goats are also employed to produce milk, cheese and meat but I hope they are. I love watching the semi-wild goats when we go to Greece (soon), an as you say they will eat anything, but it all makes for super feta cheese.
Hello Sonjia :-) Your posts are always interesting. As I was reading about the goats, I recalled how our city, Seattle, has employed goat herders to bring in their goats to clear vegetation in difficult-to-reach areas, for example, sides of hills right in downtown. It was so neat to see that and there was even a story in the newspaper. Now, in your first photo, the gentleman goat herder is certainly a classy dresser. I like that hat! :-) All the critters are interesting! Lastly, you mentioned rainy and grey skies … as you will know, we never have that in Seattle. :-) :-) You did an excellent job putting this post together on a grey day. Have a fine weekend! John
Beautiful captures of all the action. Interesting to read how goats help in preventing spread of forest fires!
I learned something new today - goat heading is indigenous to Portugal - did not know that. Great photos.
Thanks for showing us the great goat herding tradition and love the doggies ~ great photos ~
Wishing you lots of laughter and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Beautiful photos of the goats and dogs. It is good that the use of goats can help with the fire prevention issues.
I have always admired the skills of those dogs. Thanks for the great photos.
Interesting post Sonjia, I am a strong believer that all creatures on this earth have a reason to be here and each excell at some task or habit that is of benefit to others. Take care.
Mike.
Boa noite. As fotos são maravilhosas. Esse lugar é muito lindo.
true, both the goats and dogs does a great job. They are surly needed in that are. Nice post :)
such an interesting story and your images are great!! i have always found goats to be adorable animals...and i guess cheap to keep if they eat anything!!
in my area, they shave our alpaca of their coats so they can stay cooler in the summer. their coats are quite heavy!! enjoy your sunday sonjia!!
I would love to see this in person. It amazes me to learn more about this special dogs!
Forest fires are scary and destructive. Glad that goats and sheep help to clear the undergrowth and in a way help fire prevention. The dogs and puppies are cute and they are entertaining too.
You have seen something I've always wanted to experience -- watching a shepherd/goatherd and his dogs at work. I am fascinated by it. Thanks for sharing these terrific photos.
Las cabras y perros se ven muy lindos. Besos.
Lovely post
I love goat and dogs ♥.♥ So i love this pictures
What a good idea for fire prevention, although solutions sometimes create new unexpected problems that might arise. In parts of my world, fires are a huge issue as well in summer. We can learn from you about applying natural and creative solutions to try and prevent disasters.
Absolutely beautiful of the Goats and the dogs, we also have a scale of forest burns taken a climate changes, thanks Sonjia.
Forest fires and moorland fires are awful to see and read about.
I am pleased that the goats in Portugal go some way in helping this situation.
I enjoyed seeing your photographs, especially the goats in your last one.
My good wishes.
All the best Jan
Love those pics of the goats and dogs.
The skills of those dogs are fascinating!
Happy Wednesday!
Those are good-looking goats and it would be fun to watch them on the job! We saw herds of goats working the underbrush when we traveled in Texas. I don't know what breed they were, we just called them "brush-eating goats." ... in the last few years, the western part of the USA has also been plagued with drought and forest fires. I wish we could find a good solution.
I love goats and sheep, so you made me very happy with this post! These animals are really good landscapers; there are also some places in Austria where goats or sheep graze on rough meadows so that the landscape is not covered by bushes. The herding dogs are adorable too. In Ireland we once saw a demonstration of sheepdogs and a flock of sheep, which was very interesting - and the dogs that didn't have to "work" also took part. I think they enjoy herding! :-)
Hugs from here,
Traude
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