The grazing & fire glossary

Every field has its jargon; ours has two fields' worth. Plain-English definitions for the terms you'll meet in estimates, grant applications, fire inspections, and everything we publish.

Targeted grazing
The deliberate use of livestock — matched by species, timing, and intensity — to accomplish a specific vegetation goal, like fuel reduction or invasive control. The umbrella term for everything we do. More →
Prescribed grazing
The term used in regulation and grant programs (including NRCS practice standards and California SB 675) for planned grazing to meet defined vegetation or conservation goals. Functionally synonymous with targeted grazing — use this word in grant applications. More →
Browser vs. grazer
Browsers (goats, deer) prefer woody plants, brush, and broadleaf vegetation, eating upward to ~6 feet. Grazers (sheep, cattle) prefer grass, eating downward. The single most important distinction in matching animal to land. More →
Fine fuels
Vegetation less than about a quarter-inch thick — grasses, leaves, pine needles — that ignites first and carries fire fastest. What sheep excel at removing. More →
Ladder fuels
Vegetation that lets ground fire climb into tree canopies: tall brush, low branches, vines. What goats excel at removing. More →
Fuel break
A strip of land where vegetation has been reduced so fire slows, drops to the ground, and gives crews defensible space to work. Grazed fuel breaks famously helped save the Reagan Library in 2019. More →
Defensible space
The legally required buffer (100 feet in California under PRC 4291) of managed vegetation around structures, organized into Zones 0, 1, and 2. More →
Zone 0
The ember-resistant zone: 0–5 feet from a structure, where materials must be non-combustible. Statewide rules are being finalized; embers in this zone cause most home ignitions. More →
WUI (wildland-urban interface)
Where development meets wildland vegetation — the zone where most structure losses occur and where fuel-reduction work concentrates. More →
Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ)
The state's official parcel-level fire-risk classification (moderate/high/very high), comprehensively redrawn in 2025. Your zone determines which laws apply to you. More →
Grazing cell
A section of a project enclosed in temporary electric netting, sized so the herd grazes it thoroughly in a set time before the fence moves. How professional projects deliver even results. More →
Goat-day
One goat grazing for one day — the unit projects are really measured in. An acre of light grass and an acre of blackberry differ enormously in goat-days, which is why per-acre pricing sight-unseen is fiction. More →
Stocking density
How many animals graze a given area at once. High density for short periods produces even, thorough grazing; it's the dial herders tune daily. More →
LGD (livestock guardian dog)
Breeds like Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds that live with the herd and deter predators. Standard equipment on California projects in coyote and lion country. More →
Browse line
The visible height limit of goat grazing (~6 feet) — the neat "trimmed hedge" look on brush after a herd finishes. More →
Urushiol
The oil in poison oak, ivy, and sumac that blisters human skin. Harmless to goats, which is why they clear it without hazard pay. More →
Seed bank
Dormant seeds stored in soil — why invasive control takes repeat passes across seasons rather than one heroic clearing. Each pass before seed-set shrinks it. More →
Mastication
Mechanical fuel reduction by a brush-shredding machine. Fast on accessible ground; limited by slope, spark risk, and the mulch it leaves behind. More →
AUM (animal unit month)
A rangeland measure: the forage one 1,000-lb animal eats in a month. Used in public-lands grazing leases; commercial projects quote goat-days and acreage instead. More →
Red-flag warning
The National Weather Service alert for critical fire weather — hot, dry, windy. When mechanical work gets restricted and grazing keeps working. More →

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