Greetings Del Sur Community!
We are happy to be continuing our ongoing brush management around the hundreds of acres of open space in the community. For those of you who are new to us, we are the Good Shepherds, an unincorporated regenerative land management group that serves for ecological fire abatement and land regeneration. We currently are shepherding over 500 goats and sheep who eat the flashy fire fuels and trim back the brush management zones for the Del Sur Community. The herd is protected by livestock guardian dogs, herded by border collies, and guided by a team of dedicated shepherds servicing the land. Prescribed Herbivory, what we do, is one of five wildfire risk reduction vegetation management practices recognized by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as critical to addressing the wildfire crisis in the Wildland-Urban Interface, where you live. When done right, this practice can improve the soil, reduce erosion events and enhance the native ecology while minimizing flashy fuels.
You may have seen us over the last two weeks on the private agricultural space near the powerlines, and Cerro Del Sur as of Monday evening, August 17th. We are also running a smaller group on grazing walks towards the creek by the Estates.
We take our stewardship and fire hazard reduction efforts seriously, and are happy to serve the Del Sur community. Please continue reading for important information regarding our work, and the video we made of our work around Del Sur we made in 2025.
We are happy to be continuing our ongoing brush management around the hundreds of acres of open space in the community. For those of you who are new to us, we are the Good Shepherds, an unincorporated regenerative land management group that serves for ecological fire abatement and land regeneration. We currently are shepherding over 500 goats and sheep who eat the flashy fire fuels and trim back the brush management zones for the Del Sur Community. The herd is protected by livestock guardian dogs, herded by border collies, and guided by a team of dedicated shepherds servicing the land. Prescribed Herbivory, what we do, is one of five wildfire risk reduction vegetation management practices recognized by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as critical to addressing the wildfire crisis in the Wildland-Urban Interface, where you live. When done right, this practice can improve the soil, reduce erosion events and enhance the native ecology while minimizing flashy fuels.
You may have seen us over the last two weeks on the private agricultural space near the powerlines, and Cerro Del Sur as of Monday evening, August 17th. We are also running a smaller group on grazing walks towards the creek by the Estates.
We take our stewardship and fire hazard reduction efforts seriously, and are happy to serve the Del Sur community. Please continue reading for important information regarding our work, and the video we made of our work around Del Sur we made in 2025.
2025 Summary: In early 2025 the board deliberated and took decisive action after residents' concerns were brought to them and expanded the areas we cover around the property. We had two teams running different routes starting off the season in contained targeted areas. One crew of 150 goats worked at the Estates and the other 450+ sheep and goats starting on the west side of Camino Del Sur. In addition to the 340 acres under agreement, we treated another 250+ acres, adding the small neighboring community of Veridian (see the map below). We had our annual pumpkin smash where hundreds of pumpkins were smashed by many hands of Del Sur neighbors for the animals instead of going to the dump.
(The lavender and dark green colored areas make up the 340 acres of the Del Sur grazing brush management zones; all the other colors make up the over 250 acres we took on in 2025 into early 2026 (note the image doesn't share all the areas' acreages).
There are many elements that go into this, including a team of dedicated individuals dedicated to living on-site and available 24/7 to tend the animals and their various needs. Therefore we have become neighbors. We love community and aim to maintain good relations. To be viable and successful in covering the acreage and protecting property we ask for your cooperation.
For homeowners along the brush management zones we will be servicing:
For all (including renters, homeowners and your guests):
Additional Notes:
About Prescribed Grazing:
In the case of an emergency please call us at 858-522-0402.
All other inquiries can be made by e-mail: [email protected]
For more information visit www.goodshepherds.earth and for a more candid lens into our work and lifestyle, feel free to follow us on Instagram: @wearegoodshepherds
Look out for our annual pumpkin smashes that usually happen after Halloween and Thanksgiving.
We are happy and honored to be here serving the land and community in these ways. We look forward to a smooth and successful grazing season!
Sincerely,
Your Good Shepherds
For homeowners along the brush management zones we will be servicing:
- If the herd is eating unwanted plants, have gotten into your yard or there is an emergency concern, please call us immediately at 858-522-0402. While you wait for our arrival feel free to shoo and direct the herd away from unwanted areas by clapping loudly and making some noise.
- Requests for us to fix snake fences or eaten plants are understandable, however we have limited capacity to address them. While we are happy to clean up an area where the animals may have gone out of their fence lines, we do not have the capacity to replace damaged property. This makes your preventative and active participation in this project incredibly valuable and much appreciated!
For all (including renters, homeowners and your guests):
- Please call us if you see animals outside of the electric netting or if the fence is down.
- Please do not touch or tamper with the electric netting. The amperage is low, so it’s not dangerous, but the voltage produces a memorable experience. This is to keep our herd in the right places and help deter would be predators.
- Please stay a distance back if you have a pacemaker, electronic implants, are riding an e-bike or are carrying any electronics to keep you and property safe.
- There are places where the fence must cross through trails on the property. Please do not attempt to go over the fence by foot or bike. If you cannot pass, please turn around and take another route.
- Please do not feed any of the animals. Changes to the ruminants’ diets can affect their ability to digest the food and can consequently make them ill. It can also cause them to break through the fence and cause an issue.
- Please avoid bringing your K-9 pets close to the paddocks. We have working dogs that are meant to keep predators away. Domestic dogs are seen as predators, even small ones.
- Our livestock guardian dogs are Bear, a big white Great Pyrenees, and Darling, a white and tan, mixed Anatolian shepherd. They may occasionally find their way out of designated paddocks. If you discover one of the dogs outside their area they are generally nice to humans and can be leashed or contained until we are able to retrieve them. Diamond, Bear's sibling, has been relocated to our partner dairy in Paicines, Central California.
- Please refrain from feeding the dogs treats, as this encourages them to adventure out. They are well fe d and have plenty of access to water in their paddoc
Additional Notes:
- Please speak to the HOA Management about additional land clearing on the current site; we cannot answer requests to do so.
- Please respect the efforts and the space of the shepherds. Due to the 24/7 needs that arise from tending to the herd, we live in trailers nearby on approved sites for the duration of the project. We are doing our best to attend to matters while staying healthy with the elemental exposure and exertion we face every day.
- Please consider the value of having grazing as a critical fire abatement service. We sincerely apologize for any negative impacts you may experience from our presence, and aim to bring more joy and leave the land and community better off.
- We are here in hopes that fire crews won’t have to be in the future, and that if they do, they will have a lower flame height to be of less risk to fire fighting crews and a better chance at saving property and lives. We do our best to mitigate any minor issues while striving to reduce loss of property and life from wildfire.
About Prescribed Grazing:
- Around California this abatement technique is being cited as an effort to have homeowner insurance premiums lowered. Consider writing to your insurance providers about these prevention methods.
- CalFire, the Board of Forestry, and many other relevant organizations have seen and supported the research and implementation of prescribed grazing. California’s government and local leaders have begun promoting it as a way to effectively and ecologically manage high-severity fire zones.
- You may notice our herd will leave matter and avoid certain plants that aren’t palatable at certain times of the year. Our natural environment needs the vegetation to have a healthy ecosystem, that in turn can hold more water in the soil, preventing erosion and fostering healthier fire-resistant plants, while providing healthy habitat for animals. What does happen is that most of the vegetation is thinned out and trampled to a point that it won’t have enough contiguous plant matter to keep a hot fire going. The goats browse, sometimes you may see them climbing, and the sheep mow. Without herd ruminants or mechanical removal, fire will eventually return to cycle the plant matter back into the soil. In place of having intense wildfires we can manage the brush and grasses with careful management of our flerd (flock and herd).
- Nature’s recyclers: sheep and goats have four stomach chambers in which they can take plant matter and turn it into pelletized compost that can go directly back to feeding the soil. If you cut and remove plants, it disrupts the natural cycle, and will start to produce drier, brittle and harsh plants as it turns from lush to arid fire tinder, leading to desertification. As part of our big-picture ecological regeneration goals, we aim to aid a succession from desert to forest. Sheep and goats close the loop. Their action removes hazards, recycles them and puts a natural pressure on the land, while adding to habitat health.
- Each season we have treated over 340 acres in Del Sur Community HOA alone over fall and winter. On average each member of the herd consumes 4% of its body weight each day. We estimate last season the herd recycled nearly 400,000lbs of potential fire fuel from the area.
- We worked to found the San Diego Prescribed Grazing Taskforce to expand this work into the Black Mountain Open Spaces that abut the Del Sur community as well as neighboring communities.
In the case of an emergency please call us at 858-522-0402.
All other inquiries can be made by e-mail: [email protected]
For more information visit www.goodshepherds.earth and for a more candid lens into our work and lifestyle, feel free to follow us on Instagram: @wearegoodshepherds
Look out for our annual pumpkin smashes that usually happen after Halloween and Thanksgiving.
We are happy and honored to be here serving the land and community in these ways. We look forward to a smooth and successful grazing season!
Sincerely,
Your Good Shepherds
