Vines And Ovines: Benefits of Target Grazing to Sheep and Vineyard Industries

Vines And Ovines: Benefits of Target Grazing to Sheep and Vineyard Industries

Summary

All the data has been gathered and analyzed and Final report is being put together.  Glenn McGourdy and I are working on the write-up of the Final report due to the scientific depth of the information and analsis.  The only information we are waiting on (hence the annual report and no-cost extension) is the post vine pruning weights, which can not be collected until January/Febuary when the vineyard starts pruning.  We are working the the vineyard manager to see if we can be one of the first places to prune, but they have systems and logistics and so we will have to work with them on when that can happen. 
Overall summery of the project is that statistically there was not difference where the sheep grazed and ungrazed.  We are going to expand the gathering of data into the next two years and change the experiment plot, because upon analysis, we found that the conditions of the vines was not uniform and so hard to see differences in vines of what sheep grazed and didtn’t graze due to non-uniformity in vines pre experiment.

Objectives/Performance Targets

We met the soil and vine health targets/objectives, but we did not look at leafhopper populations.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The data we collected shows that there is no statistical difference between grazed and ungrazed vineyards and we want to continue research because soil and vineyard health takes many years to see a difference sometimes.  I presented at biodynamic conference and fibershed wool symposium about the research.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

I will attach the video that demonstrates the research and partnership between Kaos Sheep Outfit and Bonterra Vineyards.  It shows the relationship and interest of the health of the land, vineyard and sheep.
You can find the video at:

Collaborators: