Activity Books Wool & Sheep Activity Book | Page 11

SHEEP HAVE SPECIAL USES
Sheep eat woody and broadleaf plants as well as tall weeds and grasses.
Sheep make a good tool to control underbrush in forests and other areas. The
U.S. Forest Service uses “firefighting” sheep as a low-tech, low-cost way to
control brush. Fires need fuel to burn. If sheep have eaten the brush, there is
less fuel to burn in the fire. This makes fires easier to control.
Imagine mowing the grass at a ski slope? Rocks and steep slopes make it
nearly impossible to mow. Vermont’s Mount Snow Ski Resort has used a quiet,
economical and energy-efficent mowing system - sheep.
Junkyards help to recycle car parts. It is difficult to control weeds and
grasses in a junkyard. When they grow it makes it hard to find parts. A junkyard
owner in Grand Bay, Alabama, has rented sheep to graze around the junk.
Weeds are kept down and it is a lot cheaper than mowing with a machine.
One apple grower in southwestern Idaho has used sheep to keep mice
from chewing on his trees. Grass grows thick in orchards. This grass makes a
great home for mice. Mice like to chew on the bark of apple trees. Rather
than using chemicals to control mice populations, apple producers can use
sheep to eat the grasses. As the sheep walk, they trample down mice runways
and keep the mice away from the trees. They also clean up apples that fall to
the ground and they fertilize the ground.
In Colorado, most sheep graze in the high mountain meadows in the summer and
are trailed to lower elevations for the winter.
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