Sie sind auf Seite 1von 6
EXTEN DEDISEASONIGRAZING) ARES... “vava0i_— The Voice of Eco-Agriculture aes li CATTLE & Gave: ns Jl $3.75 U.S. / $5.00 Canada 6'42591192998 The 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 climates as 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 19 Before (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.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen