Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
SHEPHERD STORY REVISITED
Christmas Trees and Sheep
T
EN YEARS AGO
Bill White was running a Christmas tree farm in
southern Missouri and using Shropshire sheep to control weeds and
keep the grass grazed between the tree rows. Bill chose Shropshires because
research in Europe indicated they were the superior breed for this purpose.
At fi rst he was leery of placing the sheep near his trees (spruces, fi rs, and
pines), regardless of the results of the European research, so he fenced them
into a windbreak just to see what they'd do. The sheep didn't seem to be
hurting the trees, so he began using temporary electric fence to section off
half-acre paddocks among the Christmas trees, moving the sheep every 3 to
5 days. The sheep proved to be an effective tool for Bill, saving him time in
the summer.
Though overall the sheep were successful, Bill learned a few lessons the
hard way. “If I put the fl ock into the white pine in early spring, they'll eat the
shoots like candy. And they really have a taste for white pine seedlings. They
can be rotated through the other kinds of trees with no problems, but rota-
tion is a key. If they stay too long in one paddock, they'll start chewing on
branches.”
In 2003 Bill and his family moved due to his work, and his fl ock had to be
sold. I asked him if, with the 20-20 vision of hindsight, he would use sheep
again for grounds maintenance in a Christmas tree operation and whether he
thought the Shropshires remained a good choice. His answer: “I would do it
again. I think it saved me time and money on mowing and weed control. But
one thing I would do from the get-go is have another pasture that didn't have
trees growing in it, because all I had was the Christmas tree plots, and any-
time the pasture started getting too short — especially during drought condi-
tions — the sheep would start picking on the trees, and I would have to use
temporary fencing and quicker rotations to protect the trees.”
Although humans have successfully domesticated only about 50 species of
animals, they have developed many thousands of distinct breeds from those
species. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) esti-
mates that there are currently 1,000 breeds of domestic sheep throughout the
world and 60 breeds in North America.
The myriad breeds of sheep located throughout the world provide diver-
sity for our gene pool. But this diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. The
