Sheep touted as mowing alternative
PENINSULA, Ohio - Laura DeYoung doesn’t need a lawn mower to keep her grass cut. She has about 80 living grass-cutting machines roaming around behind her house.
DeYoung raises sheep as the owner of the Spicy Lamb Farm in Peninsula, Ohio. She’s also a partner in Urban Shepherds, a coalition of sheep farmers that’s promoting the use of sheep to cut grass by grazing instead of using humans and machines.
The group is in discussion with its first client, Cleveland’s St. Clair Superior Development. If all goes as planned, Urban Shepherds will have sheep grazing soon on green space near the lakefront east of downtown Cleveland.
The seed for Urban Shepherds was planted by Michael Fleming, the development corporation’s executive director. When he was working in his previous job with MidTown Cleveland, he approached DeYoung with a simple question: Can sheep be used to mow vacant land in Cleveland?
The question intrigued DeYoung, who besides raising sheep is an environmental planning consultant focusing on green economic development. She researched the subject and concluded that leasing sheep to graze grass is cheaper, better for the environment and in some cases more effective than mowing.
Sheep grazing isn’t appropriate in every situation, and it’s not practical for many residential yards, DeYoung is quick to point out. But for vacant industrial sites, school grounds, land under power lines and other big stretches of grass that can be fenced, “I just think it’s a great win-win thing,” she said.
In addition to DeYoung, the Urban Shepherds are Ohioans Aaron Lee Smith of Newark and Wayne Miller of Fredericksburg. They plan to lease or in some cases, sell flocks of sheep to clients, teach them how to care for the animals and provide fencing, supplies and education. For larger clients, Urban Shepherds would send a representative to the property weekly to provide services such as checking on the sheep and helping to move them to a new grazing area, DeYoung said.
Urban Shepherds won’t turn away residential clients, but its targets are landowners such as businesses or institutions that have at least five or 10 acres, she said. The number of sheep will depend on the size of the parcel, but DeYoung said a typical client with a large lot might lease 12 sheep.
Groups of homeowners could band together to lease sheep to graze their yards, but they’d need to realize that sheep will eat their flowers as well as their grass, she said.
DeYoung said small lots aren’t good for grazing, because they can’t grow enough grass to support the minimum of three sheep.
