“Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want…”
This picture is of sheep grazing (and resting) at a local winery‘s vineyard, Vigilance Winery and Vineyard (which, by the way, has a great sunrise picture).
This shows economics at work. The rancher obviously thought it worthwhile to transport the sheep (someone let me know if these are actually goats. UPDATE: Those are definitely sheep. Goats, apparently, will eat anything that doesn’t move and a few things that do. We suspect that having the vines demolished is not in the owner’s financial interest.) to the vineyard to graze down the cover crop, and the vineyard owner thought it worth the compaction cost to save on fuel and labor by not having to mow.
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Nullius in Verba 
Sheep. Goats would mow everything in sight to the ground including the vines, trellises, stakes, wires, … 🙂
Thanks! Good to know. I’m assuming that the vineyard owner wants to keep those vines. You have highlighted why our southern neighbors use goats to control chaparral. 🙂
LOL yes looks like sheep to me. Goats are the terrorists of the animal kingdom. Mind you, my boss when I worked at a tree nursery in Scotland years ago referred to sheep as Wooly maggots” or “TGBs” = “Tree Gobbling Bastards.” Anyway, nice example of agroforestry 🙂
LOL. And, thanks for the agroforestry reference. I’m not as up to date on nomenclature as I’d like. I would have termed it integrated pest management.
LOL!! There is an interesting agroforestry trial near here, ash plantation set widely enough for tractor access for cutting sileage- which is expected to be worthwhile for 15years. The forester told me the famer is much happier this way than to feel like he has lost a field. A friend of mine nearby has a nice set up with Heartnut trees and allowing cattle to graze beneath.
I”m assuming after fifteen years the ash canopy will fill in the spaces and shade out the silage, yes? What is the rotation age on the ash? In the heartnut tree plantation, is compaction a concern?
Oooh! I’v been thinking about something like this with poplar. What kind of spacing within and between tree rows? May have to check that out 🙂
Yes it will shade out. But the ash is for timber, 20-25 yrs I think- but could also be for hurleys which is the highest value for ash- that is the hcokey-stick they use here to play the sport hurling, national sport