Wineries Sheepishly in the Green

Filed in archive Wineries on June 26, 2007

My husband has this goofy magnet that's now a permanent member of our magnet collection on the frig: "Drink milk. Cows are on grass." His mom bought it for him because of the huge milk consumption that used to take place in their home, verging on a gallon a day!

I thought of that little cow magnet when I read about how hiring sheep out to vineyards is becoming a niche agricultural industry. From Have ewe heard about this vineyard experiment?

"Sheep are really good at what they do, and what they do is eat," said Morgan Doran, a farm adviser with the University of California.

These trained animal lawn mowers could reduce labor costs, provide an alternative to pesticides and work diligently even in driving spring rains, Doran said.

Trained sheep, hired out to wine-grape vineyards, would provide a new revenue stream for ranchers caught in a steady decline in sheep-market production statewide.

"It becomes a niche market for the sheep ranchers," Doran said.

They might need a lot more sheep in a state where wine-grape production, including organic vines, is growing, well, like weeds.

With the wine tides turning to organic wines these days, we may see more of this I suspect.