Sheep!
Rotational grazing plays an essential role in our orchard management. Over five years ago, we started to incorporate sheep into our orchard management plan, and in January of 2021, we expanded our grazing plan by purchasing our own flock!
Sheep are an incredible addition to any farming operation. They are excellent natural lawnmowers as they eat the cover crop before it goes to seed, suppress weed competition, and manure the orchard, all in one passing. Using sheep reduces the need for labor- and machine-intensive mechanical mowing. Further, as the sheep move through the orchards, their hooves aerate the soil, improving soil health and reducing the compaction caused by traditional mowers. Although we continue to mow at certain points of the year, the use of sheep allows us to greatly reduce our need for mowers.
