Will sheep damage fruit trees???

[F457]

We have fenced in our yard with 6' chain-link fencing and want to run some feeder lambs to keep the grass "mowed". There are 60 dwarf fruit trees and 20 grape vines. Should they be fenced off from the sheep? My experience is with goats that would eat any and everything in sight.

There is 1.7 acres of grass lawn with the orchard and 1.1 acres without the orchard. It is a very healthy lawn fertilized with poultry manure and limed each year to adjust the soil ph. It requires cutting twice a week most of the growing season. It is irrigated during dry periods. About how many sheep can it handle without overgrazing during the spring/summer/fall season?

 

[carolinagirl]

Sheep do prefer to graze rather than browse, but fruit trees are one exception. Sheep will kill those trees so fast you won't even believe it! They will eat all the leaves and strip all the bark.

The general stocking rate is around 5 ewes per acre, but that depends largely on the grass. Play it by ear. If they are eating the pasture down too fast, you have too many. If you can divide the available pasture in half and rotate between the two pastures, you can keep parasite levels down easier.

 

[patandchickens]

I know someone with a mature apple orchard who puts that plastic-mesh bark protector stuff (it is sort of like the plastic 'chainlink' fencing only denser, made into a tube around the trunk up to about 3' or maybe more) and although the sheep do keep the branches pruned up to "sheep standing on hindlegs for a moment" height, it does not seem to adversely affect the trees otherwise.

This might not work for everyone, as some trees might have too high a fraction of the branches within reach of the sheeps, but it works for this person.

My sheep ate a wild grape vine to death (also a variety of nontoxic shrubs, both wild/weed and ornamental -- they are much browsier than the books make it sound!), so I imagine they'd probably do the same for "real" grapevines?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[carolinagirl]

I had read somewhere that the plastic bird fencing was enough to protect trees. I have had sheep in their temporary pen for a week now and have found that while the bird fence helps, they can still eat bark. I need to go wrap the trees with a couple more layers of the stuff. They are very determined critters! When I get the new pasture done I will put a few young trees in there for future shade. I plan to buy a couple of the goat/sheep stock panels and make rigid cages to go around each of the trees. I'll stake the cages to the ground using a couple of t-posts. This is a practical thing to do with just a few trees, but in an orchard, I don't know how you could protect them all since fruit trees are typically pruned to keep the branches low, especially the dwarf trees. I think you may be better off keeping the sheep out of there all together and maybe put a few weeder geese in there to keep weeds and grass down.

 

[goodhors]

I would fence off any bushes, trees, vines that I wanted to keep. My lambs would eat anything available. Just a few bites of bark will have those dwarf fruit trees girdled and dead shortly. Just chewing off the branch tips will remove fruiting this year.

Mine were NOT picky beyong wanting to eat ALL woody things they could reach. Killed a young Tulip tree, ate a Forsythia to the ground, all in ONE DAY when the fencer was out and only two lambs!! Plenty of green pasture grass all around, but they wanted woody stuff that day.

 

[rockdoveranch]

Yep, sheep find fruit trees yummy!

You might want to check with your local extension office for recommendations as to the number of sheep your acreage can handle.

Carolinagirl's suggestion about making cages out of livestock panels to protect your trees is an excellent idea. We tried field wire secured with t-posts to protect our fruit trees and Camellia, but the sheep manage to push the wire in enough to do damage to the plants.