[Jacob-list] Heads up, shepherds of the West

[Susan Nielsen]

My cousin in Montana just sent me a clipping from the Bozeman Daily
Chronicle (July 29): a big, colorful spread headlined, "The urge to
spurge."

It's all about the working solution to the leafy spurge problem in
Montana. Leafy spurge is an invasive weed that takes over grasslands.
Seems, however, that sheep love it. The Montana Sheep Institute
(MSU Extension Service and Montana Ag. Experimant Station and Montana
Wool Growers Assn. together) has launched a project of 18 flocks of
sheep turned loose on the spurge.

The notable lines in this article are:

"... there's just one major obstacle limiting such arrangements all
across the state: the number of sheep available to use. Many more
landowners want to try the program than there are sheep-owners and
herders to provide the lamb-power."

These people are talking BIG numbers of sheep here, on big rangeland.
I expect there must be a place for smaller flocks on smaller pieces of
ground, too. The report says the sheep do just fine, even better than
fine, on the spurge.

Wish I knew someone around here who wanted their spurge purged.

Susan
--
Susan Layne Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      	|"...Gently down the
Beavercreek, OR, USA -- snielsen at orednet.org  	|stream..." -- Anon.
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