You "herd" it here first: Goats are Sydney Metro's latest employees, recruited for a special task at the Eastern Creek Precast Facility for Sydney Metro West.
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The 20 Boer goats have made themselves at home at the purpose-built facility in Western Sydney, having been employed to graze away at the grass and vegetation surrounding the site.
The flock includes four-year-old males, down to one-year-olds.
The goats have been introduced to control weeds around the site, in a quiet manner that allows the site operators to reduce noise and emissions that would otherwise occur through the use of machinery, a spokesperson said.
The goats would manage the grass, and have essentially no environmental impact compared to using pesticides, they said.
The spokesperson said the flock would be on site for three weeks to get the weeds under control, before moving on to a new home and were fenced in, with access to fresh water and shade 24 hours a day, and workers also on site that could regularly check on their welfare.
"The goats will be great company for the 570 workers on site as they work to produce more than 150,000 concrete segments for Sydney Metro West," Sydney Metro West said in a statement.
Minister for Transport (and goats), Jo Haylen, said she was pleased to welcome the goats to the team.
"The goats provide a natural solution to the challenge of weed control and will reduce the environmental impact associated with using pesticides and other machinery," she said.
"No 'goats', no glory in the landscaping game for these mega projects, and these star employees have got the job."
The facility is made up of three sheds for each tunnelling package, each with its own production line, and was purpose-built to produce tens of thousands of concrete segments for the new 24-kilometre metro line that will connect Greater Parramatta to the Sydney CBD.
The goats will primarily be located around the Eastern Tunnelling Package shed, which is in the early stages of production with more than 1100 segments already produced.
Production and installation of segments for the western and central tunnelling packages are well advanced, with more than 23,700 segments installed in the tunnels between Westmead and Sydney Olympic Park, and 45,000 segments installed in the tunnels between Sydney Olympic Park and The Bays.
Sydney Metro West will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.