Cities across the Front Range have a secret weapon to prevent wildfires: A herd of 300 goats

By Brad Turner,

Gabe Allen, Ariel Lavery, Erin O'Toole, In The NoCo

Published July 19, 2024 at 5:32 AM MDT

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Goats stream by the camera. A man in a gray t-shirt stands off-kilter in the background

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Jordan Sarazen stands among his goats in Superior on July 16, 2024. Sarazen left a career as a financial advisor to become a goat herder.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

A woman looks off camera in a dry field at the edge of an electric fence. A goat cranes its neck in the foreground

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Toni Sarazen looks out at the herd in Superior on July 16, 2024. Toni is the co-owner and VP of Communications for Goat Bros.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

A goat chews on the low hanging branch of a ponderosa pine tree

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A member of the Goat Bros herd chews on pine needles in Superior on July 16, 2024. The goats mitigate wildfire risk by razing low-hanging vegetation.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

A goat herd walks toward the camera in a dry field. In the background, a cookie-cutter suburb looms.

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A suburb looms behind the Goat Bros herd in Superior on July 16, 2024.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

The side of a brown goat fills most of the frame. A herder in a grey shirt and ball cap can be seen in the background.

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Jordan Sarazen with the Goat Bros herd in Superior on July 16, 2024.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

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A goat eyes the camera at an urban open space in Superior, Colo. on July 16, 2024. In addition to mitigating wildfire, the herd's diligent mowing can improve soil health and suppress invasive species.

Gabe Allen / KUNC

Two years ago, Jordan Sarazen lived a comfortable, perhaps even mundane life, working in an office as a financial planner.

A couple poses in a dry field with a herd dog between them. A goat lazes in the background. — Jordan and Toni Sarazen pose for a family portrait with their herd dog, Cherry, in Superior on July 16, 2024. Jordan got the idea to start a goat mowing business from the ABC reality show "Shark Tank." Five years later, the couple runs the business full-time.

Then one day, he decided to make a change. He set out to fulfill a dream of managing a goat herd and renting their services to landowners. Today, Jordan and his wife Toni own 300 goats, and a company called Goat Bros.

They travel around the Front Range and let the herd graze on vegetation for cities like Longmont, Northglenn, and Superior. And the goats provide a form of wildfire prevention by clearing out weeds and dense brush growth from open space land.

Using goats to clear out dry vegetation isn’t a new idea in Colorado, but its popularity has picked up in recent years, including after the 2021 Marshall Fire burned through neighborhoods in Boulder County.

The Sarazens live in a fifth-wheel camper that they park near where the herd is grazing. Jordan spoke with ITN host Erin O’Toole from a grazing spot near Superior.