Re: Sheep

[J Peter Young]

The sheep are Old English Baby Doll South Downs. These are 
short but not small sheep. The harnesses are dog harnesses for the body and 
a sheep halter for the face. Tie the two together from chin to chest. Some 
of the sheep get to big around to fit into the dog harness.
 

Sheep

[J Peter Young]

I have a friend here in Sonoma County that is 
running sheep in his vineyard year round with great success. They are pygmy 
sheep and they wear a kind of harness that keeps them from getting up into the 
leaves. Apparently if they can get at the end of a cane that has drooped down, 
they will yank the cane down all the way to the trunk.
 
Peter

Re: RoundUp

[J Peter Young]

Gil,
 
We had a marvelous green manure crop this spring 
which, when we couldn't get control of it in the vine row, completely shut down 
vine growth in early summer. It is a young vineyard and apparently very 
sensitive to competition. Once the green manure crop finally fell away natually, 
the more noxious north coast weeds began to appear because of our irrigation. In 
some areas we did sow a clover vine row cover crop, but it was just a 
competitive.
 
It's sad that next door, my conventional farming 
neighbor who uses a pre-emergent over the winter and then regularly applied 
RoundUp through teh growing season had much better growth and vigor with less 
water and a lot less fertilizer.
 
We had hoped to only try to keep the 18" 
around each vine clear, but that is turning out to be impractical and next 
season we are going for an 18" to 24" wide strip. The aisles will continue to 
have cover crop in them providing habitat. 
 
Our biggest concern this year is getting in to the 
vineyard at the right points in time over  the winer to use the 
vinegar and the number of passes we'll have to make each season since vinegar 
has not effect on the roots.
 
Peter

Re: Roundp

[J Peter Young]

Thanks Barry for the links and thank you Gil for 
the reply.
 
I have 150 gallons of 30% concentration Apple Cider 
Vinegar sitting in my drivway waiting to be applied in my vine row. Anybody have 
any information on its effect on microbiology (including worms) at the fairly 
high and frequent levels you have to apply it to be effective?
 
Peter Young
Bennett Valley Vineyards

RoundUp

[J Peter Young]

I am having a running argument with some of the 
local conventional Sonoma County grape growers about RoundUp. They claim that it 
binds to the soil almost immediatly and has little to now negative effect on 
soil biology. Does anyone have any CONCRETE information on RoundUp and its 
effect on soil biology?
 
Thanks
Peter Young
Bennett Valley Vineyards