A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® CALIFORNIA Trees & Vines ®
Benina Montes manages the almond orchard at Burroughs Family Farms in Stanislaus County. Using livestock such as sheep to graze orchard floors provides nutrients for the trees and remains a key part of the regenerative farming process.
Sheep nourish almond orchards and create income
By Bob Johnson For six months of the year, a flock of 750 sheep grazes freely in the Burroughs Family Farms’ almond orchard in Stanislaus County. The sheep feed on the volunteer grasses that cover the orchard floor. They cycle it into nutrients that feed the almonds and add a diverse source of income to the farm. “It reduces our mowing costs and increases income by selling lamb,” said Benina Montes, who manages the family almond orchard. The sheep reduce the need to use fossil fuels to manage the cover crop, which builds soil health by keeping roots in the ground. Montes is among an increasing number of farmers looking to a future of integrating livestock production into growing crops. The effort increases revenue and reduces the need for chemicals or fuels to manage cover crops, which build healthier soil. “We don’t mow; we move the sheep through 5-acre blocks,” Montes said. “We don’t mow at all until the last minute before harvest.”
In a University of California Cooperative Extension webinar, Montes joined research- ers and other growers in discussing the integration of livestock into orchards. The Burroughs orchard is the first almond orchard to be certified by the Regenerative Organic Alliance, a group established in 2017 to promote regenerative organic practices on farms around the world. The sheep and chickens simplify the process of managing grass that covers the orchard floor year-round and provide nutrients for the trees. But they also complicate the orchard operation. Irrigation hoses are raised to accommodate the sheep, and copper was eliminated from dormant sprays. But Montes said the major complexity is in learning animal hus- bandry along with horticulture. “We bit off a huge project,” she said. “It was a challenge learning the nutrient needs
See SHEEP, Page 8
August 24, 2022 Ag Alert 7
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