Shephardess Innovates With Dynamic Agriculture System

Trying to find agricultural systems that are environmentally friendly and economically viable is a challenge facing the agriculture industry. So when a friend from New Zealand told us about how they graze sheep in fruit orchards we instantly liked the idea.  All of a sudden the apple and cherry orchards on the farm didn’t look just like orchards, they also looked like sheep pasture.  So we went for it and purchased our first group of ewes in January of 2013.  Our goal was to build a sheep production system that worked with the current farm set up and where we can produce quality lamb raised in an environmentally sustainable and welfare-friendly system.  

Our sheep graze permanent pastures in spring and early summer where they give birth to lambs, and are moved to orchards the rest of the year.

Utilizing the grass in the orchards allows us to reduce feed costs and grass cutting costs.  While the sheep convert grass and weeds into meat they also fertilize the orchards with their manure.  Having the sheep on pasture eliminates costs associated with keeping animals in barns such as bedding material and manure removal.  Lambs are born outside on pasture in May and June.  Raising lambs on pasture can bring challenges such as coyotes and internal parasites.  

To help protect our sheep from coyotes we utilize electric fences and livestock guardian dogs.  Livestock guardian dogs have been used for hundreds of years by shepherds to protect their sheep from people and predators. We use the Kuvasz and Maremma breeds of livestock guardian dogs, other guardian breeds include the Great Pyrenees, Akbash, and Anatolian Shepherds.  These amazing working dogs see the sheep as their family and guard them day and night. Raised with sheep from the time they are puppies, guardian dogs sleep with the flock at night and can even be found helping clean off newborn lambs.