A herd of 40 firefighting goats are chewing through hectares of vegetation across NSW in a trial of grazing as a measure to lower bushfire risk.

The goats eat around a quarter of a hectare of dense vegetation in two weeks, with speeds doubling for lower density vegetation. They graze patches of undergrowth and are useful in terrain where mechanical clearing or burning are challenging.

“This alternate mitigation strategy may look like a novel solution but it provides an important advantage in that it can be implemented rain, hail or shine,” Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said.

“This is such a simple but valuable way of mitigating the risk of fire. The goats are used to the hard yakka, are chewing through their KPIs, and thankfully we don’t need to worry about them working on an empty stomach,” he said.

The trial, which began in August, will continue over several months in different locations across the state and responds to recommendation 21 from the Independent Bushfire Inquiry into the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20.

Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Rob Rogers said grazing will mitigate against grass fires – particularly in areas where mitigation crews and local brigades find it hard to reduce fuel loads – and the trial had already made remarkable progress in hazard reduction.

The NSW Government has committed almost half-a-billion dollars in response to the inquiry, including almost $38 million for additional mitigation crews.