A few years ago, we purchased 33 acres in the Sierra foothills. The property supports large black oaks, California live oaks, and a rare hybrid oracle oak (naturally occurring hybrid of black and live oak). In between the oaks, we have ponderosa pines and and a few bull pines. The underbrush is thick stands of native chaparral. This lush vegetation creates the beautiful landscape that attracted us to the canyons, rivers and gorges of the Sierra Nevada many years ago. As we thought about building a home on the edge of the Stanislaus canyon, we were reminded of the many fires that sweep through these canyons each year. To mitigate the danger, we turned to goats. In our second year on the property, we rented 150 goats for several weeks. Their job was to eat as much of the vegetation as possible. They did their job and our first pastures came to life. We were so impressed by our caprine friends that we dove deeper into the world of goats looking for the best breed to bring onto the property. We were searching for a hardy goat that could clamber over rocks, navigate the gullies and climb the trees. We needed a goat that could maintain condition on a mixed diet of oak leaves, brush and some grass. We looked for a goat with a broad ranging appetite. Our ideal goat would be prolific, robust, and muscular. We wanted our goats to produce kids that would meet the demand for large white goats in meat market. Savannas were the obvious choice.