by Julia Griffin

(with thanks to Rodgers & Hammerstein)

“Firefighting goats could be furloughed due to California employment law
Targeted grazing is part of California’s strategy to reduce wildfire risk because goats can eat
a wide variety of vegetation, including on steep, rocky terrain that’s hard for others to access. …
But new state labor regulations are making it more expensive to provide goat-grazing services,
and herding companies say the rules threaten to put them out of business. … The goat-grazing industry
is pushing the state legislature to approve legislation that would treat goatherds the same as shepherds.
A bill to do so hasn’t yet received a public hearing.”
—The Guardian

High on a hill sits a furloughed goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo:
Such is the will of a legal dotard.
Hey ee who will pay ee is it you?

Goats kept the fire from the crops (bean, oat, urd)
They ee night and day ee cropped the dry grass through;
Now, though, the prices will soar per goatherd:
Vae ee poor CA ee you should sue.

Not OK ee, folks’ll say ee
“Goats away ee, sheep can stay ee”—
So just pray ee for delay ee
Modal yodel internodal
Boo!