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$3.75 U.S. / $5.00 Canada 6'42591192998The Magic of Sheep:
Transforming Viticulture Through Grazing
Enhancing Profit, Sustainability with Extended Season Grazing
Good luck (and perhaps an initial
preference for beer over wine) meant
that I got involved with both holis-
tic management and livestock grazing
about 10 years before I started manag-
ing and designing vineyards. That was
fortunate because I learned the power
of sound decision making and planned
‘grazing, as wel a the versatility and ef
fectivenes of livestock asa too! for vital-
izing ecosystem health. Recently though,
1 discovered just how dynamic grazing
animals can be in an unconventional
role whether in a vineyard or other agri-
cultural operation
Coming into wine growing with a
solid background in. livestock grazing
and a decent understanding of ecosys-
tem processes, I was amazed at the lost
opportunity and ecological absurdity of
many contemporary viticultural man-
agement practices, including various
“sustainable” approaches. For ins
nutrient and water cycles were systema
cally compromised by standard practices
including plowing, disking, moving and
herbicides. Based on practical experi
ence, reckoned sheep could do the work
more elegantly and sustainably — they
just needed to have access to the vineyard
throughout the growing season.
‘This awareness inspired many hours
spent examining the reasoning behind,
and the effects of, technologicaly-based
‘management practices and planning
how a more biologically-based approach
might function. Eventually, this infatua
tion led to a number of design concepts
for new vineyards and the traling of a
system to allow grazing of existing vine-
yards throughout the year. The results
Sheep graze ina vineyard in Alexander Valle
_grazing during the winter near Healdsburg
California (top). The author's sheep
California
of that trial demonstrated not only can
reliance on fossil fuels, tractors, pesti-
cides and imported fertilizers be reduced
or eliminated, but numerous additional
benefits can be realized as well
18 Acres USA.
Grazing sheep (and other livestock)
in vineyards is not a new idea. Likely
many vineyards throughout history were
grazed, as some are now, each winter
during the vines’ dormant season. Once
-vines start budding out sheep need to be
removed as they have a voracious fond-
ness for grape leaves
‘This routine of winter grazing works
‘especially well in Mediterranean climatesas the wet winters encourage native vegetation, weeds or cover
crops to grow under and between vine rows allowing forage for
livestock to graze while the vines are dormant. Inopportunely,
‘when temperatures warm and grape vines start to leaf out, growth
rates of cover crops or weeds increase but sheep must be removed
— just when their services are most needed. In winegrowing
regions with summer rainfall, the ability to graze throughout the
summer, without damaging vines, has been nearly impossible
This i clearly a major design flaw from the perspective of being
able to use grazing asa tool. Not surprising though, considering
that vineyards are designed for tractor, not sheep.
Vineyard management practices in general have become
increasingly mechanized throughout the world, A typical year
on a California wine grape vineyard can require anywhere from
12 to 25 tractor passes down each row (roughly 26-34 rows,
per square acre) for pre-pruning, mowing, disking or spading,
spraying, under-vine cultivation, in-row cultivation, fetiliza-
tion, harvesting and seeding. Organic practices often require
‘more tractor passes than conventional because mechanical cul-
tivation, as opposed to herbicides, tends to be the tool of choice,
‘The critical task was apparent: In order to create a biologically
intelligent way to farm grapes (and thus reduce reliance on ma~
chinery, fosi fuel, chemicals, etilizers and other outside inputs)
vineyards needed to be designed (or retrofitted) to be conducive
to biological (rather than mechanical) management. In par-
ticular they needed to be conducive to graring various breeds of
sheep. Note that this approach would not necessarily preclude
the use of machinery it just increases the practicality of grazing.
TRIAL RESULTS
With this objective in mind, I conducted a tral to test both
a novel idea I developed to deter sheep from grazing the upper
(fruiting and leaf) zones and to determine their effectiveness
28 a biological tool for vineyard management. The owner of a
boutique vineyard and winery I managed in the Alexander Val-
ley of California agreed to allow the trial to occur at her site. A
small group of hair sheep was introduced to the vineyard in late
January in order to train them to the electrified deterrent system,
before bud break occurred in the grapevines. By the time the
vines started leafing out in April the sheep were wel trained and
avoided all buds and new leaf growth above the fruiting wire.
‘With a secure system in place to control and limit grazing
browsing, sheep were carefully monitored for approximately
five months, three during which the grapes were leafed out.
‘The system turned out to be completely effective throughout
the trial, deterring vine and fruit browsing even when sheep
were deprived of food to “stress test” for effectiveness. Follow-
ing are some primary benefits realized from this trial:
‘Completely eliminated the need for any mechanical cultiva-
tion, tillage or mowing both between rows and under the vines
as this task was accomplished through simple grazing moves.
‘This corresponded to four to eight fewer tractor passes per row
per year and all forage consumed was converted to fertility in
the vineyard.
+ Completely eliminated the need for hand suckering of the
vine trunks as sheep browsing performed this task. Eight hours
laa
Erna
FERTILIZER
Plus 10% Caleium
Reduce Cost » Increase Yield
EXTRA VALUE,
MANURE BASED FERTILIZER
+ Farmers have long seen advantages of livestock manure
Slow release of nutrients
Reduced leaching to ground water
10% Calcium
+ Adds carbon
[Natural 3-1-7 Liquid is specifi for erop production
~ High level of soll and plant nourishment
~ Trace Mineral supplement
~ Complete suspension -no lumps
May 2011 19Before (top), during and afer grazing young vines at Freestone Vineyards near
Sebastopol, California. Drip tubes were disconnected at row ends before introducing
‘sheep in order to prevent breaking of fitngs.
of labor saved per year per acre and
suckers are converted to manure.
yeep consumed all canopy lateral
and leaf thinnings (removed by hand
and placed on ground). They converted
this material into manure and elimi-
nated the need for disking into soi
+ Reduced irrigation use by 90 percent
compared to neighboring vineyard (con-
ventionally managed — same clones,
rootstock and soil). This amounted to
approximately 50 gallons less water per
vine used on the tral plot: 5 gallons per
vine on the conventional sie, 5 gallons
per vine on the grazed side. The year of
the trial (2009) and the previous year
‘were both drought years. 039-16 was the
rootstock on all vines
+ Reduced on-site irrigation use by 80
percent from the previous year (2008)
during which the vineyard was managed
biodynamically and organically. Sheep
were grazed from January until the end
of March during the non-trial year
+ Increased yield (over previous year)
by 1,245 pounds per acre.
+ Based on recent tastings, wine qual-
ity from fruit harvested during the ex-
tended season grazing trial is exceptional.
‘The electrified deterrent system
proved adaptable and effective in the
trial vineyard VSP trllsing system. With
‘modifications this approach would likely
prove viable with other trellsing meth-
ods. (Training vines higher or using
small sheep breeds are also options for
grazing vineyards without using a de
terrent system. Often though, smaller
breeds may be difficult or costiy to ob-
tain and can learn to limb on each other
in order to reach foliage. The deter-
rent system allows vineyards to be safely
sgrazed by numerous breeds and sizes of
sheep and possibly small cattle.)
Provided a saleable, edible product
that is selfxeplicating, powered by cur-
rent solar energy and pairs well with
zed wine — show me a tractor that can
‘atch those features!
‘Te potential ramifications of reduc-
ing fossil fuel-based tractors and ma-
chinery in vineyards and replacing those
practices with the tool of planned graz-
ing of livestock offer a multitude of rel
and potential benefits. One of the most
dramatic results was the substantial de-
crease in water use. Weeds and cover
20 Acres USA.