California lawmakers are scrambling to prevent the state’s goat‑grazing industry from collapsing after a regulatory change effectively quadrupled the minimum wage for goat herders. Lawmakers are weighing an August fix, though it’s still unclear whether the solution will be temporary or a long‑term change. Legislation in 2023 included an exemption for goat herders that expired this year at the end of June, throwing their businesses into a whirlwind of uncertainty just as California’s fire season is reaching its peak. (U.S. Forest Service photo)California long treated sheepherders’ and goat herders’ wages equally, but the state labor commissioner’s office determined in 2022 that the code section establishing the monthly minimum wage for sheepherders didn’t explicitly include other livestock grazers, including goat herders. A recent Department of Industrial Relations report found that all stakeholders agreed the work of sheepherders and goat herders is basically identical, Dahle noted.