In the Hérault, sheep replace chemical weedkillers in the vineyards

At this winegrower in Castelnau-de-Guers, near Pézenas in the Hérault, nearly eight hundred ewes and their lambs graze peacefully in the middle of the vines. Very greedy sheep which effectively replace the weedkiller and avoid countless passages by tractor. Savings on phytosanitary products, on fuel and benefits for the earth. The owners of wine estates are delighted.

The advantage is that we have an immediate return of this organic matter, if it had to degrade naturally it would have taken some time. There it is eaten and automatically degraded by the stomach of the sheep, which then rejects it as manure directly assimilable by my vines.

Christophe Muret

Owner of the Domaine de Castelnau

And the shepherd also finds his account there. At this time of year, fresh grass is scarce, so all these hectares to graze, more than a hundred, are a godsend for him and again avoid spending too much money on fodder.
“We’re talking about banning glyphosate, we’re talking about a return to nature, and good peasant common sense too. We do the same job, in different bodies, but we are both peasants“.

It’s been three years since we started in the vineyards, and it’s snowballing, more and more people are asking us

Frederic Henriques

Shepherd and breeder.

Frédéric’s sheep will spend a month and a half here, the time to weed all the plots, then will leave for another area, to find out if the grass is greener!