Rural Fire Service use goats to knock down vegetation at Curlewis, near Gunnedah, after Tamworth and Coolatai stints

A 50-strong herd of goats are munching away on the grass growth at Curlewis, near Gunnedah, in the Rural Fire Service's (RFS) bid to lessen fire risks in some areas.

The four-legged RFS recruits are part of a trial by the fire agency, and are so far ticking the boxes.

"We've got the goats out there at Curlewis at the moment and they are there on Crown lands for another two weeks," North West RFS Area Commander Heath Stimson said.

Three years of La Nina conditions and back-to-back floods this year has seen grass loads spiral out of control.

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The RFS is warning landholders to prepare ahead of the warmer weather.

Monday was the first high fire danger taste of summer, after strong winds and warmer conditions on the weekend.

"We've also got a number of planned burns over the coming weeks, but we're just waiting on those conditions to be right for those to occur," Mr Stimson said.

The herd - or goat brigade - has already had stints at Coolatai and Tamworth, and work around the clock in rain, hail or shine.

The goats are being used to knock down heavy vegetation and grass in pockets that are challenging for crews to clear through other hazard reduction techniques like backburning or mechanical clearing.

"We have about 50 goats, and that is in addition to our fire trail work, our asset protection works, our AIDER program to help our most at risk and elderly residents, so we're doing a lot of work in the mitigation side of things in the lead up to summer," Mr Stimson said.

The innovative fire mitigation technique - which has been running since 2021 - was born after the inquiry into the deadly Black Summer bushfires recommended new approaches to fire mitigation.

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