CULTURAL CONTROL USING SHEEP
CULTURAL CONTROL USING SHEEP
Sheep and Goats have helped provide a nice alternative to herbicides for controlling noxious weeds such as leafy spurge. They help control the top growth in pasture and range land.
However, will grazing work? Usually grazing alone will not eradicate leafy spurge but will help stop or reduce the spread of the infestation. This will slow the spread of the noxious weed and help horses and cattle have healthy grass to graze.
How to: The grazing process should start in the early spring or start when the noxious weed first emerges on a large area of land. Pastures should be split up so animals can be regularly rotated and the whole
infestation grazed in a short time.
Goats and sheep work where you can not spray such as along or near waters ways and trees where chemical control is prohibited.
You can also spray and then graze with sheep and goats. Research has shown that a fall applied herbicide treatment followed by spring grazing provided better leafy spurge control than either method used alone.
Liturature Cited:
Lym, Rodney G., Integrated Management of Leafy Spurge, W-866 (Revised), March 1995 http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/weeds/w866-1.gif
Nigel's battle on weeds site 4/27/04.
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