Farmers using sheep as a natural weed control method

I've recently been doing some research on the concept of livestock in vineyards and I have to say it gets really fun when you go deeper into it and although it's not that easy to understand everything, because it's not Theory but real life and I'm blessed to be in a region where livestock is abundant.

Yes Accra is the capital and we're advancing in technology but we're not las Vegas, there's literally a place for cattle right next to a modern residential area, it's bad planning and they poop on the road and they stink but the good side is we're one with nature at least.

But I'm not going to talk about cow, rather about sheep. Farmers are using the sheep for more than meat. There's a concept called targeted grazing. It's essentially sending the animals into the crop fields, orchards and vineyards where weeds have become a problem. They eat the pestilent vegetation while allowing the majority of the crops to remain untouched. This is an effective alternative to the use of herbicides and reduces the cost associated with that application. It's very simple and it's nature's way of helping the farmer.

One interesting thing I learned was winter rotation of sheep through the vineyards. While the sheep are harvested, they are simultaneously fertilizing the soil when they urinate and defecate. So they're basically providing both free labour and free fertilizer for you.

This is low tech practice but also effective in some ways.

That's made me wonder if we have over complicated farming today as a society because of all the modernization. Maybe the practices of farmers thousands of years ago yielded good results too. But you can never look down on how effective technology has been for agriculture.

There may be those who will read and argue that my perspective is not right, that said, I am not an expert in the field of commercial agriculture, so I cannot say definitively what's right and wrong with regards to the use of modern technology.

But when I think about chemical and chemical free farming, there's something inherently satisfying to me about the chemical free one because it creates a sense of "I'm not eating poison or chemicals when the crops grow"

And it's cool to see a mechanisation free approach that allows animals to do what they already do, and you the farmer don't have to spend that much money.

Of course, this type of practice will not work in every location. Many different variables exist, like location, climate, the types of crops grown and the types of weeds, but I think it is fair to assume that for all locations where it does apply, the practice of using herding sheep for weed control will become a standard agricultural practice.

That is my current mindset with regards to this issue. I don't see it as being innovative, but rather a much more practical approach.

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