Sheep for Vegetation Management

Sheep have always played an important role in different systems, other than the sole production of sheep.  They are used to maintain vegetation, where mowing can be difficult or impracticable.  They have been used for centuries in perennial systems, in order to maintain vegetation around the primary plants.  They have even been used, to help remove lower and exterior leaves to help the fruit get more sunlight, in order to help with ripening.

Benefits of sheep

• Sheep keep their heads down and are less worried about what they can climb on or eat in the air.
  • This makes them better suited for environments such as solar farms, where it would be detrimental to the solar panels if they were to jump on them, like a goat.
• They also prefer grasses and other leafy plants, rather than woody species.
  • This preference makes them suitable for grass landscapes, which benefit from the grazing to removes the old growth and invigorate new growth, when its grazed.  They also return the nutrients back to the soil to help with future growth and create a healthy ecosystem.
• Sheep can quickly move through production areas to clean up an area after harvest, such as grapes in a Vineyard.
  • They also eat the grasses, and “weeds” below and among the plants reducing the need for labor and pesticides.
• When sheep are used before seed heads appear on invasives species, they will eat them equally with the other grasses.
  • This disadvantages the invasive that are looking to set seed, and the grasses around it get a burst of invigorated growth helping them out compete the invasives.
• One important way sheep have been used is to help clean up crop residues in the fields after harvest.
  • They break down the crop residue and help convert them to nutrients more readily available to next years crop.
• There are many other places sheep could be used in order to help maintain the balance in a landscape.
• Sheep have less impact on the land, less labor, less fuels, and no chemicals with unintended consequences.

How it works

Sheep are easily moved and controlled, using portable fencing.  This allows us to control their impact, and to move them about the site in order to meet the goals of the land owner.  There are many different goals that sheep can assist with, so every site has its own individualized management plan.

There is no need to have onsite power or or water.  With our system we provide all the requirements for the fence and the sheep, and monitor the site daily.  You only need to share your goals with us, so we can develop your plan for your site.

Contact us at [email protected]  for more information, and to get a free consultation.

One could even claim to be giving their land, The Presidential Treatment.