Breed | Vineyard | Comments |
| Lleyn | Gwnllan y Dyffryn Vale |
| Shropshire | Domaine Hugo, Salisbury | They do a great job. |
| Thorrington Mill | When the plants are dormant November-March I don’t think it matters to much what breed you graze around the vines as long as they have plenty of grass or cover crop on the ground to eat.
I also wouldn’t put anything in with horns that could get tangled up.
The soft mouthed Shropshire’s I have found, I can leave in the vineyard until bud burst (mid to late April ish) then put them back in straight after harvest.
The main reason for Shropshire’s in particular is the leaf stripping from the fruit zone. 70 x sheep can save £5,000 in the equivalent labour cost.
Watching them work at this time is just magical, they are so careful to feel each leaf before they bite it away from the vine. This means they remove none of the fruit accidentally and damage nothing.
They cause far less damage to the fruit than machine stripping or human hand stripping. |
| Suffolk | Danbury Ridge, Essex | Uses Suffolk and Mule sheep to graze during the winter months |
| Southdowns | Trevibban Mill |
| Babydoll Southdowns | Poulton Hill | We keep Jacob’s Sheep and Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep, two of the oldest breeds in England.
Our Babydoll sheep are perfect for keeping the area around the vines tidy without nibbling the grapes – and they fertilize the soil as they graze.
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| Texel | Ludlow |
| Hazel End | When we kept Texel crosses on the farm, we tried putting
the rams into the vineyard after harvest. When they grew bored with beating up the vines,
they destroyed the electric fencing in search of something more interesting. It was convenient
to put the rams in because they are ordinarily kept separate from the flock but females would
probably have been more docile. All the same. Texels are probably too big and vigorous.
Not repeated. |
| Texel/ Welsh cross | Parva Farm | We have been grazing sheep in our vineyard for 20 years now but only in winter - after the vines have dropped their leaves until the end of March.
They don't do much damage apart from knocking down the occasional post. We use wooden stakes which rot in time and sheep sometimes rub on them and knock them down. Can't really blame the sheep if the post is rotten!
We usually use the lambs we are keeping as they are not too big and can get under the bottom wires. Our vineyard is about 3acres and we will use about a dozen sheep. They do a good job at tidying up the grass plus a bit of manuring.
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| Hebridean | New Hall | These hardy sheep eat all the weeds in the vineyard. They have been on the farm since John Kemp bought it in 1974 |
| Dorper-Dorset Horn Blackhead x Persian cross. | Mousehole, E Sussex | They don’t eat the leaves nor bother with bunches
either and fit under the
cordon wires quite easily. Better at keeping grass short than any topper. |
| | |
| Easy care -Hampshire, Texel, Suffolk cross | Exton Park, Hants | Small self-shedding sheep. I prefer these but have had Hampshire Downs, Texel, and Suffolk sheep in the past. All did a great job in fertilizing
and eating down our cover crops. No damage to the vineyard. |
| Wiltshire Horn | Davenport | See comments in the paper on the use of animals in vineyards |
| Combe Hay | The sheep are part of our work to enhance the ecosystems and biodiversity on the site, together with spreading mushroom spawn,
we are also in the process of creating space for our bee hives and a nature pond |
| Frome Valley | The sheep are used in winter in the vineyard, and even make an occasional contribution to our freezer |
| Oussants | Redfolds, Sussex | They are so light |
| Ambriel Sussex | Over winter our vineyards are grazed by ouessant sheep – the smallest in the world |
| Glyndwr | Perfect for being "lawnmowers" around the vines. |
| Romney | Nyetimber | A Flying Flock of 600 Romneys grazes 9 of Nyetimber's vineyards from
September to February, after which they return to their owner |
| Gusborne | The sheep are spared long lorry journeys to and from a distant pasture.
The shepherds are spared transport costs. In the vineyard, the sheep keep the grasses nice and tidy, including
taking care of some
of the perennial weeds. The added bonus? A healthy dose of organic fertiliser.
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| Blue-faced Leicester | Dunleavy | - I just keep an eye on them as they can nibble bark once grass supplies dwindle |
| Other -Flying flock | Polden Wines | The Ewes graze mostly from mid January to March, when they have their new born lambs at foot, as the vineyard (1ha)
is a nice little plot of land close to the farmer's house so he can keep an eye on them. They have a bit of hay to supplement the grass. |
| <Setley Ridge | We graze sheep every autumn after harvest for a couple of months throughout the vineyard.
We currently have about 50 lambs grazing .
We find it removes the need to mow and weed vineyard mechanically saving time and cost.
This starts the next season with a tidy vineyard and a bit of natural fertiliser thrown into the bargain but be sure that any young vines have guards around them or they may be nibbled but with plenty of grass they should leave the vines alone .
We “borrow “ the sheep from a local farmer who is delighted to have the extra grazing. At this time of year no need to provide water trough as they should get all the moisture they require from the grazing.
Take account of any sprays you have used and let the farmer know.
Finally , sheep are not very bright . Try and remove areas of brambles around perimeters as they will get stuck in their fleece and they could get cast and die and ideally fence off areas of open water if you have any . |
Other ovine uses | Conwy | Conwy are using sheep's wool alng the vine rows. The lanolimn in the wool keeps crawling pests off and Colin Bennett has shown that the fleeces rot down to produce a
fertiliser for the vines. It also cuts down the pesticide sprays and the sun, relecting from the wool, helps ripen the grapes. White wool's benefit is that it reflects sunlight and contributes to
ripening the fruit. Traditionally vineyards with stone or dark soil can gain heat in hotter climates but the vines need to be close to the ground to benefit from the heat overnight.
Colin commented that they neither have that kind of heat and if we did the bunnies would have eaten our crop well before harvesting! So. we train the vines higher (out of rabbit reach) and use the fleeces to prevent weeds
from growing below the vines, add nutrients to the soil, deter slugs and snails and help to ripen the vines! Oh and give farmers a fair price for this amazing product! |
