California Winery Brings in the Sheep, Cuts Fuel Use in Half
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO 
on 02.22.07
Even with gas prices down for now, most of us would love to find a way to cut our fuel costs in half. One enterprising California winery found a way to do just that: replace their mowers with a herd of sheep. The CBS News video above explains how the Navarro Vineyards keeps the "lanes" between grape plants clear with baby doll sheep that aren't tall enough to munch on the crop. We'd guess that this helps keep the soil fertile, also. ::Greenthinkers
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Baby Doll Sheep are adorable! All suburbs should have a flock. Every day a different lawn, and instead of a neighborhood lawn kid, there'd be a neighborhood shepherd! And they supply natural fertilizer, milk, and wool.
Funny thing that, I was driving up to Petaluma today and drove by a vineyard that had sheep grazing in the rows. I thought what a great idea! I know people often use goats for lawn mowers, as they will eat even the weeds. But Baby Doll Sheep are a brilliant idea, as goats will reach up and eat the crop.
Three cheers for creative thinking.
There is a company that does this, they are called 'Wooly Weeders' They've been around for awhile, it's not just limited to vineyards...
This is real easy in rural parts of the 'civilized' world.
I worked for a U.S. company that has
subsidiary in Germany. The vice president from the U.S.A. went there, and saw the grass.
He told the plant manager he should have the grass
cut. Friedrich was upset,.. what is this "cut the grass"?
He talked with someone in the U.S. who explained the U.S. passion about about well trimmed lawns. Well in Germany there are not to many lawnmowers..
Friedrich arranged for a local shepherd to graze on the lawn a few times a year.
Our sheep have been "cutting" our lawn like this for years. Unfortunately, sheep cannot be quite as controlled as a lawnmower. Stray sheep make unhappy neighbors.... but we persevere.
Rob, I love the visual image your comment creates.
IIRC, one of the local utilities is using goats or sheep (I can't remember) to eat an overgrown section of their property where they need access to their equipment. In their case, machines wouldn't do the job very well, while animals would.
Not only are these adorable sheep getting rid of the weeds as nature intended and fertilizing the crops, the wool from them is just wonderful to spin into yarn. This breed is also known to be easy to handle. Boy I would love to have a wonderful business like this!