| From West by Northwest.org Bummers & Gummers Self-propelled Lawnmowers that Fertilize, Too By Susan Nolan May 18, 2004
My introduction to ovine lawnmowers came through my friend Ken. Ken's suburban half-acre was a very busy little place and there was no room for his steer or his flock of two sheep and a lamb. So he farmed them out. The sheep stayed at my place for a few weeks, until the grass was closely and evenly trimmed all over, behind and between everything, right up to the fence. Then Ken drove his pickup into the yard, caught the lamb and tossed it into the truck. The ewe leaped up after her baby and the wether, not wanting to be left out, quickly followed. The next year I bought a sheep at auction. Hazel cost $11. She was probably a purebred Southdown, and was on the verge of gummerdom - she had only six front teeth instead of eight. At the end of lawnmowing season I sold her. I did this two more years before switching to geese. Lawnmowing is another of those tedious chores that you can get animals to perform cheerfully for you, with a little care and management on your part. This is the scoop on sheep and geese as lawnmowers. (Why not goats? Goats are browsers rather than grazers. They're looking for weeds and brush more than grass. And you need to have your fences really together for goats. If lawnmowing is your primary goal, you're better off with another species.) Both sheep and geese will eat grass, dandelions, and certain other plants. Sheep will also eat coarser weeds such as buttercups and plantains. After you see what they take or leave at your place, you can protect the treasures and hand weed as needed - my geese leave the plantains to me.
The leading cause of death among the geese and sheep I've known has been dogs, including the owner's dog. Dogs should never be allowed to "play" with farm animals. If you're dog isn't trained to be livestock safe yet, now's the time. "We'll just try to keep them apart and keep an eye on things" always ends badly. Don't kid yourself about dogs and fences. You need a good strong fence around the perimeter. Cross fencing and barriers to protect young fruit trees, etc., you can be less particular about; just remember that a sheep may choose your fence to scratch that itch. You packrats who have a storehouse of old refrigerator shelves, short lengths of field fencing, marginal fence stakes, beat- up pallets, etc., will be able to put your collection to good use. A smaller pen will come in very handy if it can be arranged. Those who live on grass eat a lot, have a big gut, and shit a lot. We're not talking dogs or cats here, one little pile a day, left in an inconspicuous place. You're in the manure business now. Especially in winter, when there's plenty of lush fodder, and nothing dries out, it can get pretty gooey out there. If they can't get to your front door or heavy traffic areas like the path to the car, life is better. You can fence them out and let them in as needed. Geese in particular like to hang out on the porch, leaving the inevitable green piles. A double gate can save you a lot of aggravation with escape artist sheep. If your lawnmowers are a permanent part of the household, you may have to supplement their lawn gleaning during the lean parts of the year. For sheep, you'll need to buy hay, but geese can be pieced along with garden weedings and scraps, whatever you can scrounge. A hand sickle will help you garner fodder from odd corners. A patch of oats in the garden makes wonderful food for geese; you can cut and then later cut again. I give my geese a cup each of all-purpose poultry pellets in the evening. Most of the year they don't need it but it provides regular contact and a good supplement, and makes them easier to corral if need be. Your lawnmowers can also speed-compost garden waste. This is a particular help with disease and insect problems - wormy apples, weeds going to seed, etc., are quickly destroyed. So, geese or sheep? Geese are smaller, so for a roomy town lot, a pair of geese is perfect. Hand-reared geese are tame and friendly with people they know. As birds go, they're smart; although you can see where the phrase "silly goose" comes from when they go on a giddy, screeching, wing- flapping tear. Overall, though, geese have a dignified –even noble– air, with their faces that sometimes look sad and sometimes seem to smile. Geese can be noisy. The Asian breeds (Chinese and African, the ones with the big knob on their bills) are definitely the noisier ones. Confining them at night in a shed or secluded enclosure can cut down on stray-cat alarms and trumpeting serenades at dawn. Their bedding will be primo compost material. The reputation that geese have for being mean is deserved. During the mating season and when goslings are small, the male will fiercely defend his family against all meter readers, parcel delivery persons, and other menaces, and even the owner should expect some minatory hissing and posturing (siting the nest box in an out of the way corner helps here). Geese mate for life. They stay flexible, though, and if luck or your choice doesn't provide the traditional heterosexual couple, they can adapt. Threesomes are fine (always with two females) and efficient if breeding is one of your goals. Unisex couples work well, too. (You can avoid the aggression and destructiveness of ganders the way.) Once a pair, or whatever, is bonded, they shouldn't be split up. A single goose is lonely and unhappy. It may hang out with ducks or whatever is available, but it really wants to be in a stable relationship with someone of its own kind. Geese, especially males, love to pick at things. A knothole in your fence, a wound on a tree, exposed plumbing–any irregularity will be tested and, if possible, chewed to bits. They don't call 'em waterfowl for nothing. They love water and play in it a lot. Plan to change their drinking water at least once a day. A cheap hard plastic kiddie wading pool will give them great pleasure and you will be able to harvest a rich manurey soup from the bottom of it when you clean it. My quarter acre wasn't big enough to support sheep year-round, so the temporary sheep were great. Now I know better than to keep a single sheep–being prey animals they are most vulnerable alone, and feel anxious and lonely. Keep at least two. Giving gummers a reprieve from the dog-–or chicken-food mill is cheap and the old girls are easy to handle. Young sheep cost more but can be butchered at the end of the season. I've usually bought sheep at the auction but probably wouldn't go there for animals I planned to keep. Organizing a co-op to rotate the sheep among several households is another option. Sheep are sometimes faulted, most often by those with a "pet" orientation, for being stupid. Let's examine our thinking here: cleverness and personality are not necessarily what we're looking for. Sheep are docile and easily managed by a single person - the old lady in a cottage on the heath, the busy suburbanite. Herd animals have an entirely different psychology from humans. Spending a little time in a happily grazing flock will give you insights into another way of being. Sheep and geese can do a lot for you, not only mowing the lawn, but integrating well with garden and orchard by consuming byproducts and making lovely manure. They can be pets or low-maintenance farm animals, perhaps producing meat, wool, or eggs. And they link you to other parts of your world: the ranchers, the livestock auction, the feed store, the very long history of animals that work for a living. bummers & gummers is a 'hand-crafted,' alternative country life zine celebrating working animals and do-it-yourselfself resourcefulness. You may get the complete bummers & gummers experience by subscribing. Send $10 and your name and address to... bummers & gummers po box 66 Yoncalla, OR 97499 © Copyright 2000-2004 by West by Northwest.org |
