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Lawn-Mowing Sheep
Michael Butcher
Don’t feel like mowing the lawn? Perhaps a flock of sheep could do the job for you. Around the country, some people are ditching gas mowers in favor of animals that munch on tall grass and unwanted plants. The University of California, Davis, for example, enlists sheep to maintain several lawns, while in Virginia, a small company called Lamb Mowers will bring sheep to suburban homes to trim, weed, and fertilize the grass. Sheep are great at lawn care, according to experts: They nibble precisely the right amount of grass to keep the yard looking nice, and they love weeds and nuisance plants like poison ivy. They’re also better for the environment than chemicals or gas mowers, and many customers note that it’s just fun to have grazing sheep around for a couple of hours. Although the trend is getting attention now, Lamb Mowers owner Cory Suter says the idea is nothing new. “This is how everyone used to care for their lawn: horses and sheep,” he told The Washington Post. “We’re bringing back a very old technology.”